


Teen Wolf Season 3A Revised

by Araloth



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe-Season 3A, Canon-Typical Violence, Episode: s03e01 Tattoo, Episode: s03e02 Chaos Rising, Episode: s03e03 Fireflies, Episode: s03e04 Unleashed, Episode: s03e05 Frayed, F/M, Jackson Whittemore Returns, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Retelling, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2019-08-29 00:25:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 40,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16733508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Araloth/pseuds/Araloth
Summary: This is my alternative take on Teen Wolf season 3A, where among other changes, Jackson comes back to Beacon Hills. Some things from canon will still occur, and others will be will be pretty different. Each chapter of the story will correspond to one episode of the season, though some elements and scenes may be moved around to fit the new narrative.





	1. Tattoo

            Isaac ran down the alley-and paused to sniff the air. _Left_. He took off running again. He was getting closer, he could feel it. _If only-_ Isaac rounded a corner coming out into a dimly lit street. Warehouses rose up on either side of the road, their chipped paint and battered exteriors suggesting they hadn’t been used in awhile. _Nothing._ Isaac’s phone started to ring and he fished it out of his pocket with a sigh.

            “Did you find anything?” Derek asked.

            “No.” Isaac tried to reign in his mounting frustration. He thought he’d been so close this time. “Whatever it was is gone now.”

            For the past few months Isaac and Derek had been searching for Boyd and Erica to no avail. Every time they seemed to be making progress the trail just disappeared.

            “Where are you at now?”

            “Warehouse district I guess.” Isaac craned his neck a little to look further down the street. “Not much here.”

            “Alright.” Derek said. “I’m not finding anything here either. I’ll come pick you up.”

            “Maybe-“ Isaac broke off as a metal trashcan fell down on the far side of one of the warehouses. Isaac frowned. It was probably nothing, just some animal scrounging around for scraps. But if there was any chance it wasn’t-

            “Hang on-“ Isaac cut off whatever Derek had been saying about planning for their next step. “There might be something here…”

            “Be careful Isaac.” Derek sounded worried. “Just wait until I get there-“

            “This will just take a second…” Isaac slowly rounded the corner. There was the trashcan… Isaac gave the can a firm kick. A raccoon shot out the other end disappearing back down into the darkness of another alley. Isaac sighed and raised the phone back up to his head. “It’s just-“

            Something hit Isaac from behind and he was suddenly falling, the ground rushing up to meet him. Isaac’s phone clattered to the ground but he could still hear Derek calling out his name.

            “Isaac? ISAAC?”

            Isaac groaned his vision clouding over for a moment.

            “Isaac?”

            Rain was starting to fall when Isaac opened his eyes again. The harsh overhead lights by the warehouses were buzzing in his ears. The trashcan Isaac had kicked was lying next to him, though Isaac had been lucky enough not to actually fall _into_ any of the trash spilling out of it.

            “Isaac-are you okay?” Derek asked anxiously.

            Isaac groped around for his phone, only to look up and see his Alpha standing over him, worry etched across his face. _Why was Isaac on the ground again?_ Isaac tried to manage a weak smile. “I trip and you come running halfway across town?”

            “I-what?” Derek frowned.

            Isaac eased himself slowly to his feet. He nearly lost his balance again but Derek’s arm was there to steady him. Isaac frowned. _Why was he so groggy?_ The back of his neck ached a little, and Isaac reached back to find a small cut there, right at the base of his skull. _Did I hit my head when I fell?_ Derek was still looking at Isaac, his eyes full of worry.

            “What?” Isaac asked.

            “Isaac…” Derek frowned. “That was three days ago…”

***

            “Boy, good thing you drew me a picture.” The tattoo artist snorted, setting Scott’s crude sketch of two dark lines aside. Scott was already in the chair, eager and waiting, and apparently immune to the man’s sarcasm. Stiles rolled his eyes as he flipped through some of the other sample designs the shop had on display. He grinned as one in particular caught his eye.

            “Hey Scott! Sure you don’t want something like this?” Stiles held up a picture of a vaguely humanoid looking lizard. Scott somehow, failed to see the humor. “Too soon? Kay.” Stiles grimaced as he looked back at the tattoo artist prepping Scott’s arm. “I don’t know, man, you sure about this? These things are pretty permanent, you know?”

            Scott smiled. “I’m not changing my mind.”

            Stiles sighed. “Okay-but why the two bands?”

            Scott shrugged. “I just like it.”

            “But don’t you think your first tattoo should have some sort of meaning you know or something?” Stiles asked.

            “Getting a tattoo means something.” Scott said easily.

            Stiles groaned. “I don’t think that’s –“

            “He’s right.” The artist nodded. “Tattooing goes back thousands of years.  The Tahitian word tatau means leave a mark. Like a rite of passage.”

            “Yeah, you see?” Scott smiled almost proudly. “He gets it.”

            Stiles gave his friend an exasperated look. “He’s covered in tattoos, Scott.  Literally.”

            “Kay, you ready?” The tattoo artist picked up the needle. “You, uhm, ain’t got any problems with needles do ya?”

            Scott shook his head a little nervously. “Nope.”

            “I tend to get a little squeamish though so...” Stiles leaned forward curiously. His eyes widened a little when he caught sight of the needle and Stiles fainted, slowly sinking down to the floor.

            Scott grimaced as the needle started to hum against his skin. “Oh man…”

***

            Finally back on his feet Stiles climbed up into his jeep, Scott hopping up into to passenger side.

            “You okay?” Stiles asked.

            “It kinda burns.” Scott eyed the bandage on his arm curiously.

            “Yes.” Stiles waved his hand at Scott’s arm. “You just had your skin stabbed about a hundred thousand times by a needle!”

            Scott frowned. “Yeah but I don’t think it’s supposed to feel like this…” Pain shot up Scott’s arm. “Oh god no!” He cried out. “It’s definitely not supposed to feel like this!”

            “Uh-oh.” Stiles’ eyes widened as Scott grabbed for his bandage. “Hey-“

            “I gotta take it off.” Scott groaned.

            “Nonono no Scott please…” Stiles blanched and turned to look away, brining a hand up to cover his eyes. “Stop!”

            But Scott was already unwinding the bandage. Against his better judgment, and really hoping the sight didn’t make him faint again, Stiles peaked around his hand. Stiles paused, and let his hand fall back to the seat when he saw what was happening.

            “Whoa…”

            Scott’s skin wasn’t nearly as red as it had been when the artist was putting the bandage on. As they watched the skin was slowly healing, the ink fading bit-by-bit as it did.

            “Oh no. What?” Scott stared down at his fading tattoo despondently. “No-no come on…”

            The skin finished knitting back together, leaving no trace of the needle marks or the tattoo that had been there only moments before.

            Scott sighed. “It healed…”

            “Ah…” Stiles tried to be sympathetic but couldn’t help smiling. “Thank god. I hated it.” He shrugged guiltily when Scott glared at him. “Sorry.”

***

            “It is not a double date. It’s a group thing.” Lydia rolled her eyes. Allison had finally gotten back from France yesterday, and try as she might Lydia couldn’t convince her to do anything fun. Lydia had finally talked Allison into the car with her, but now Allison was pushing back on the idea of going out.

            “Do they know it’s a group thing?” Allison asked. “Cause I told you that I’m not ready to get back out there.”

            Predictably it all came back to that. Lydia sighed. “You were in France and didn’t do any dating? For four months!”

            “Did you?” Allison challenged. “I mean after-“

            Lydia scowled. “Do not say his name.”

            Allison was quiet for a minute. “Is he okay?” She finally asked. “I mean, did everything work out?”

            “The doctors looked like total idiots when he turned up alive.” Lydia shrugged. “Everyone got over it. And yes, Derek taught him the Werewolf 101. Like how not to randomly kill people during the full moon.”

            Allison eyed Lydia carefully. “So then you’ve talked to him?”

            Lydia pointedly looked at the window, avoiding Allison’s gaze. “Uh no... Not since he left for London.”

            “You mean since his dad moved him to London.” Allison corrected. She really couldn’t have blamed Jackson even it had been his choice though. After everything they’d all been through Allison hadn’t been sure she wanted to come back either. Lydia’s phone started buzzing in her bag, pulling Allison from her thoughts.

            “Who is it?” Lydia asked.

            Allison grabbed a hold of Lydia’s bag and dug out her phone. She frowned when she saw the contact name displayed. “Grendel’s mother?”

            Lydia blushed slightly. “What? It’s from _Beowulf_ …”

            “I know where it’s from.” Allison smiled. “I’m guessing Jackson is suddenly Grendel then?”

            “I thought we weren’t saying his name…”Lydia shot Allison a quick glare, then sighed when her friend seemed unfazed. “So what?” Lydia pursed her lips. “We broke up. I’m allowed to be a little bit bitter. It’s not a big deal.”

            Allison glanced back at the phone. “Why is his mom calling you?”

            “I don’t know and I don’t care.” Lydia took the phone from Allison and dropped it back into her bag. “If I’m not talking to Jackson I certainly don’t want to talk to his mother. I’ve moved on.”

            “So you’re - you’re totally over him?” Allison raised an eyebrow skeptically.

            “Mm.” Lydia hummed in agreement. “Would I be going on a double date if I wasn’t?

            Allison laughed.

            Lydia rolled her eyes again and adjusted the air conditioning a little. “Yes- It’s a double date. It’s not an orgy.”

            “Right.” Allison shook her head and smiled. She turned away from Lydia to look at the trees swaying alongside the road.

            Lydia grinned and eased the car to a stop as they hit a red light. “You’ll live.”

            Back in Stiles’ jeep Scott was bemoaning his situation with Allison.

            “No, we-we agreed to give each other the summer.” Scott sighed. “No texts, no calls…”

            “So then how do you know she won’t be back at school then?” Stiles asked.

            “After everything that happened, I’m not sure that she’s coming back at all.” Scott said sadly.

            Just then Stiles’ jeep pulls up to the same red light Lydia and Allison are stopped at. Stiles catches sight of them in their car and grins a little. “I think she is.  I’d say pretty definite. You know.  Like, one hundred percent.”

            Scott frowned. Stiles nodded out the window behind him. Scott turned to look and catches sight of Allison and Lydia himself. He starts to smile and then panics when Allison suddenly turns and makes eye contact with him.

            “Oh my God, oh-“

            “Oh my God oh my god oh my god oh my god…” Allison turned away from Stiles’ jeep and threw a hand over her face. “I can’t see him. Not now.”

            “Can we just drive?” Scott begged. “Please? Stiles-“

            Stiles waved a hand at the stoplight. “Scott it’s a red light-“

            “Lydia! Go!” Allison groaned. “Just go!”

            Lydia sighed. “The light-“

            “I think we should talk to her.” Stiles is still looking over at Lydia and Allison. “I think we should say something.”

            Scott shook his head quickly. “No.”

            “I’m gonna say something.” Stiles leaned across Scott to get to the passenger side door.

            “No-no Stiles! No come on.” Scott moaned. “Oh my god. Dude-“

            “Hi!” Stiles waved out the window. “Hey-“

             The light is still stuck on red but Lydia floors it, speeding through the empty intersection.

            Stiles watches them go and frowns. “You know…They probably didn’t see us.”

            Allison spares a quick look over her shoulder as the pull away and sighs.

            “You alright?” Lydia asked.

            The light finally changes from red to green and Stiles starts to pull through. Scott gives him a panicked look.

            “What are you doing?”

            Stiles cocked an eyebrow. “Driving?”

            Scott points to Lydia’s car frantically. “We’re right behind them!”

            “Okay-” Stiles makes a point of looking around the road. It’s obviously boarded by woods on either side. “Well do you see any turns?”

            “I don’t want it to look like we’re following them.” Scott grumbled.

            “Well what do you want me to do?” Stiles asked critically.

            “I dunno!” Scott threw his hands up. “Anything!”

            Stiles slams on the brakes, brining his jeep to a stop in the middle of the road.

            Ahead of them Allison sighs. “Lydia stop. We need to go back. I need to talk to him.”

            Lydia stops the car and frowns. “They stopped too.”

            Allison and Lydia both turn around to gawk at Stiles’ jeep just sitting in the middle of the road.

            “Why would they stop?” Allison asked.

            “It’s Stiles and Scott.” Lydia gives her a bemused look. “Do you really want to try applying logic to those two?”

            Allison frowns. Maybe we should go back-“

            From out of nowhere a stag comes barreling down the road and launches itself straight through Lydia’s windshield. Lydia and Allison both scream and rush to climb out of the car. Scott and Stiles are already out of the jeep running up to check on them.

            Scott takes a hold of Allison’s shoulders and gives her a quick once over. “Are you okay?”

            “It came out of nowhere!” Lydia glares back at the deer sticking half out of her car.

            “Are you hurt?” Stiles asked.

            “Are you okay?” Scott repeats.

            Allison finally nods. “I’m okay.”

            “Well I’m not okay!” Lydia cries. “I am totally freaking out! How the hell did that thing just run into us? I saw its eyes right before it hit us.  It was like it was... it was like it was crazy…”

            Scott steps around Lydia’s car mindful of the broken glass from her windshield. Something about the stag has caught his attention. He reaches out a hand to it slowly. “No…it was scared.”

            His hand finally touches the animal’s still heaving side, and Scott jumps a little. “Actually-terrified…” Scott stares down the road where the deer came from, but all he can see is a moonlit road and the dark woods surrounding it.

            The night has no answers.

***

            Isaac groaned as Derek helped him up into Derek’s Camero. Isaac’s whole body seemed to hurt and he couldn’t understand why. He just wanted to close his eyes again. Just for a little while…

            “Stay with me Isaac.” Derek slammed the driver’s side door and revered the engine, flying away from the warehouses. “Isaac!”

            “Hmm?” Isaac mumbled weakly.

            “Listen to my voice okay?” Derek sounded worried. Why was he worried? Isaac wasn’t sure. “Keep talking to me okay? Don’t go back to sleep.”

            Isaac grimaced. “It hurts…”

            Derek eyed him seriously. “What hurts?”

            Really everything did, but Isaac’s hand drifted back to the cut on his neck. “My neck…”

            “It’s how they share memories.” Derek’s face darkened.

            Isaac frowned. “I don’t remember anything…”

            “They can take them too.”

            Derek’s voice was starting to sound a little distant. Isaac knew Derek had told him not to, but he was just so tired. Isaac could just close his eyes for a minute…

            Isaac slumped down against the seatbelt and Derek cursed. He tore his eyes away from the road to try and shake Isaac awake. “Isaac-Isaac hey…” The minute Derek touched his shoulder he hissed, small black veins starting to flow up his arms as he subconsciously took Isaac’s pain. Derek frowned. That was too much for just a little cut. What else had they done-

            As if in answer the front of Isaac’s shirt started to bloom red, as a slowly widening blood stain seeped through the fabric. Derek growled furiously, and pulled up Isaac’s shirt already dreading what he’d find… Isaac’s chest was a mess of cuts and half healed bruises. Isaac’s body was trying to heal, but whatever damage the Alphas had done was running too deep. Derek swore. Isaac needed help. And there was no way Derek could take him to a hospital like this-there’d just be too many questions he couldn’t answer. Derek swung around the next turn in the road and accelerated, pressing the gas pedal into the floor of his car. There was at least one other place that might have what Derek needed to help Isaac…

***

            School the next morning seemed cruelly early. Scott has been preparing for it all summer, determined to make this year different and he still feels on edge. Last night won’t get out of his head. His computer chimes, a word of the day popping up in a new window. Scott reads it slowly.

            “Ephemeral…”

            Scott sighed when he saw the definition. Fleeting. Momentary. Here and gone. His fingers curl around his forearm where all by all rights he should have a new tattoo. Mostly Scott just tries not to think of Allison. “Ephemeral…”

            The ride to school helps Scott feel a little better. He spent all summer working for Deaton at the vet clinic, and with the money he saved up Scott was finally able to buy himself a small motorcycle second hand. It might not look like much, but it’s his, and Scott is fiercely proud of it. He’s been reading up on how to maintain it too, in between the book list he’s trying to make his way though to prepare for college when the time comes. Scott’s smiling as he pulls into the school parking lot on his own, right up until the moment he parks his slightly battered green bike next to two sleek looking black ones, top of the line as far as Scott can tell, and looking brand new.

            Scott frowned and studied them a moment. Scott was pretty sure he’d remember ever having seen bikes like those here before. Maybe whoever they belonged to just got their license? Scott is pulled from his thoughts when Stiles practically tackles him, slinging an arm around Scott’s shoulder and gesticulating wildly.

            “So I was looking up the number of deer related traffic accidents right, and you wouldn’t believe how many-“

            “Stiles calm down.” Scott can’t help but grin as they trudge up the school’s steps together.

            Stiles just rolls his eyes. “You sound like my dad. The point I’m trying to make is that the thing with the deer was super weird…”

            “Maybe it was rabid or something.” Scott offered.

            “Scotty you said it was terrified.” Stiles sighed. “C’mon…”

            “Things are finally getting back to normal.” Scott groaned. “Can’t we just-“ He breaks off as they walk by a school bulletin board. Amongst all the typical back to school flyers, and ads of various clubs, are two missing person posters-one for Boyd and one for Erica. No one’s seen them since the night everything went down with Jackson’s sudden resurrection, and their families are both worried sick. Stiles catches Scott’s look, and follows his eyes to the posters.

            “Maybe they just ran off together…” Scott says halfheartedly. “That wouldn’t be so bad…”

            “Yeah…maybe.” Stiles is quiet for a minute. He hoists his backpack a little higher on his shoulder and coughs. “Anyway I’ve got to run this to my locker… see you in class?”

            Scott nods and wanders off towards his own locker. Stiles stares at the posters a minute longer before he starts moving, he doesn’t want to be late on the first day back.

            Down the hall Lydia is practically purring as she scouts out the students around her. “Freshmen. Tons and tons of fresh men.”

            Allison laughed. “You mean fresh boys. Lydia, they’re fourteen.”

            “Meh, some are more mature than others.” Lydia smirked as another boy walked by, someone Allison thought she recognized from last year-at the very least he’s clearly not a freshmen. The boy smiled when he catches Lydia’s eyes on him.

            “Lydia hey… I’d love to get together again sometime…”

            Lydia hummed noncommittally, and the boy keeps walking.

            Allison shook her head. “You know, it’s okay to be single.  Focus on yourself for a little while. Work on becoming a better person.”

            “Allison, I love you.” Lydia smiled. “So if you need to do that thing where we talk about me and pretend like we’re not actually talking about you... it’s totally fine.  But I don't want a boyfriend. I want a distraction…” Lydia trails off. From down the hall a small gap in the otherwise clustered hallway is forming. Two new students are making their way towards where Allison and Lydia are standing, and the crowds are parting around them to watch.

            It’s easy to see why once they get a better look at them. The two boys are incredibly attractive, even judging by Beacon Hills’ high standards. They match almost perfectly, both of them decked out in leather jackets and dark jeans, motorcycle helmets under their arms.

            “Brothers?” Allison asked curiously.

            Lydia’s eyes are alight with interest. She tilts her head in approval taking them both in. “Twins…”

***

            Scott had shifted gears by the time he and Stiles finally met up again for their shared English class, talking about his failed tattoo again in a hushed voice.

            “You want to ask Derek for help?” Stiles asked. “Why?”

            “He’s got the triskelion tattooed on his back.” Scott pointed out. “So there has to be a way to do it without healing right?”

            Stiles shrugged. “Yeah but still-doesn’t he have his hands a little full?”

            The classroom is filling up pretty fast, but they find a pair of seats in back near the windows. Scott’s just about to answer when someone walks up to the empty seat next to him. Scott looks up, and of course it’s Allison. His voice freezes up in his throat.

            “Is anyone-“ Allison blushes slightly and points to the empty seat.

            “No-no no.” Scott fumbles. He clears his throat and tries again. “No it’s all yours. Uh-it’s totally vacant.”

            Suddenly Scott’s cell phone starts ringing, followed by Allison’s and Stiles’, and then suddenly the whole class’ phones are ringing. Scott here’s the click of high heels, and then someone is stepping into the classroom, reading off her own phone as she does.

            “The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth, flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.”  The woman, clearly their teacher, pauses to look up at the students in front of her. “This is the last line to the first book we are going to read.  It is also the last text you will receive in this class.” She smiles. “Phones off, everyone.”

            As the new teacher introduces herself as Ms. Blake, Stiles catches sight of a small bandage on Lydia’s ankle. He frowns.

            “Hey.” Stiles taps her on the shoulder. “Lydia.” Lydia sighs and glances back over her shoulder. “What is that?” Stiles points to her ankle. “Is that from the accident?”

            “No Prada bit me.” Lydia shakes her head and turns back to her notes. Which, really what could she even be writing down at this point Stiles wonders. The teacher’s name? Looking at her Stiles reckons it will be fifty/fifty if she even lasts three months in Beacon Hills before being scared off. The town takes a certain type, and Ms. Blake just doesn’t seem like it.

            “Your dog?” Stiles finally asked.

            “No my designer handbag.” Lydia stares at Stiles like he’s an idiot. “Yes-“ She drawls. “My dog.”

            Stiles frowned. “Has it ever bitten you before?”

            “No.”

            “Okay…” Stiles mind is already off running with this new piece of information. “What if it’s like the same thing as the deer? You know, like, how animals start acting weird right before an earthquake or something?”

            “Meaning what?” Lydia wondered. “That there’s going to be an earthquake?”

            “Or something. I just mean-“

            “…um Stilinski? Mr. Stilinski?”

            The teacher is taking attendance off the class chart. Stiles almost laughs. She didn’t even try.

            “I go by Stiles.” He lifts his hand up and gives her a little wave. “And here.”

            “Oh okay…” Ms. Blake makes a hasty note next to Stiles name before moving on to the next from the list. “Um…Jackson Whittemore?”

            This time Stiles does laugh. “Uh yeah I think someone gave you an old class list there. He moved. Like last summer.”

            “Oh-“ Ms. Blake frowns. “Then-“

            Stiles turns back to Lydia again all business. “I just mean maybe it means something’s coming. Something bad.”

            “It was a deer and a dog.” Lydia says pointedly. “What’s that thing you say about threes - once, twice...?”

            A crow slams into the window glass right above Lydia’s head. And then another. Outside the window the sky is practically turned black as hundreds of crows take flight. And one after another they seem to turn towards the windows, throwing themselves against the glass. Window panes shatter sending glass flying and dozens of birds crash into the classroom in a mess of beaks, talons, and feathers.

            “Get down! Everyone! Get down! Get down!” Ms. Blake shouts.

            Stiles pushes Lydia to the ground wrapping his arms over her protectively and watches as Ms. Blake grabs another student. Maybe he didn’t give her enough credit after all…

***

            He’s waiting for her for when she walks in. The room is dark, no lights on and no sun leaking in from outside-not that it matters.

            “Well Kali?”

            She smiles around her fangs. “You might have been right. He helped the other one escape.”

            “I see.” The man’s eyes flash for a minute behind his dark glasses. “Let him go…”

            Kali frowns. “What?”

            “We don’t want to risk damaging our prize now do we?”

            “I’ll take care of it.” Kali nods slowly. “And the other?”

            The man smiles again. “There we proceed as planned.”

            Kali grins.

***

            When it all stops there are dead birds and feathers everywhere. The Sheriff department gets called in of course, plus EMS. No one was seriously injured, but there are plenty of scrapes and cuts to be looked at. And the school has been busted to hell again. Construction companies at least will still be doing fine in Beacon Hills. Stiles catches sight of Ms. Blake leaning against her desk, her eyes vacant.

            “Ms. Blake?” Stiles looks her over quickly. She’s probably just in shock. “You okay?

            Ms. Blake nods slowly. Stiles supposes even if you were briefed a little on what life in Beacon Hills can be like when you took the job, this would still be a pretty crazy first day. Honestly it’s amazing anyone applies to teach here anymore.

            “Sorry just-“ Stiles leans forward and pulls a clump of feathers out of her hair. “-that…”

            Mr. Argent is checking out a small cut on Allison’s hand just a few feet away, leaving Scott to hover awkwardly at the other end of the classroom.

            “Next time you’re feeling you want to stay home, you stay home.” Chris sighs.

            “I’m okay.” Allison lowers her voice a little more. “But Dad-the deer and now this…”

            Her father nods grimly. “I know.”

            “It can’t be a coincidence-“ Allison stops as Stiles’ dad wanders over to them.

            “Mr. Argent.” The Sheriff smiles. “You wouldn’t have any insight into this would you?”

            “Me?”

            “Yeah, it’s all this bizarre animal behavior, it’s uh... You must have seen something like this before, right?” The Sheriff asks.

            Chris frowns. “I’m not sure why I would or why you would think I would.”

            “I’m sorry-“ The Sheriff nods back at Stiles. “I could have sworn I overheard my son talking about how you were an experienced hunter.”

            “Uh, right.” Chris cathes Stiles’ eye over his dad’s shoulder. Stiles grins guiltily. “Well not anymore.”

            The Sheriff nods. “You alright?” He asks Allison.

            Allison manages a small smile. “Fine.”

            Stiles sighs. Scott’s still in the far corner talking to Lydia and trying to give Allison and her dad as much space as the small classroom allows. Stiles takes in the mess around the room. A flock of crows. No-a _murder_ of crows technically. Stiles tries not to read too much into that but living with everything that’s happened lately it feels pretty hard. It’s hard to believe a few minutes ago they were just taking attendance. _Attendance_ … Stiles head snaps up. He quickly scans the room, he can’t believe he missed it earlier. Stiles was right-he’s not here. Before anyone can stop Stiles grabs his bag and slips out of the room.

***

            Derek spread a paste of the herbs over Isaac’s chest again. They seemed to be helping, but Isaac still hadn’t woken back up yet. Derek fell back into his chair and picked up Isaac’s hand in his. Within a minute the black veins were flowing up Derek’s arm anew as he siphoned off more of Isaac’s pain. He looked around at the ruined remains of his house. The Hale house had been the only place Derek knew would have the herbs he needed.

            It felt strange being back. Derek hadn’t been to the house in months now. Staring at the skeletal remains of the life he’s once had Derek’s grip on Isaac’s hand tightened just a little. He lost too much already. His parents. Laura. Maybe Erica and Boyd now… Derek wasn’t going to lose Isaac too.

***

            “Hey!” Stiles practically bowled over Scott as he rushed down the hall.

            “There you are!” Scott grabbed Stiles and steered him out of the main flow of traffic. “Where were you?” he whispered. “First the deer and now the crows-“

            “-Lydia’s dog too.” Stiles jumped in, still a little out of breath. “But we can worry about that later. Isaac wasn’t in English.”

            “What?” Now that Scott thought about it he couldn’t remember seeing Isaac either. He’d been too focused on Allison sitting next to him.

            “And I just checked-“ Stiles pressed on. “He hasn’t been here all day.”

            Scott frowned. “How do you know?”

            “I had to bribe the secretary with like three bags of M&Ms.” Stiles said. “And let me tell you the school vending machines are not cheap-“

            “Stiles focus.” Scott cut him off forcing him back to the topic at hand. “Why isn’t Isaac in school?”

            “That’s the thing she didn’t know.” Stiles said grimly. “Apparently his guardian just called him off…”

            “Guardian?”

            Stiles shook his head. “I don’t know but it’s gotta be Derek right? I mean that’s who he’s been living…”

            “So Derek called Isaac off school?” Scott asked. “What does that mean?”

            “I don’t know.” Stiles shrugged. “Well not for sure at least. But after Erica and Boyd-“

            “-I should call Derek.” Scott finished.

            Stiles nodded. “Yeah.”

            Scott pulled out his phone and punched in the number. Derek answered on the second ring.

            “Scott now’s not really-“

            “What happened to Isaac? Is he okay?”

            Derek sighed. “He will be. Look-“

            “What aren’t you telling us?” Stiles asked.

            “It’s nothing.”

            “Missing school doesn’t sound like nothing.” Scott said. Stiles nodded. “Did you guys find Boyd and Erica?”

            “No…” Derek paused. “Look-just come meet me.” Derek grumbled. “We shouldn’t do this over the phone…”

            “Do what?” Stiles frowned. “-and meet you where? It’s not like-”

            “My house.”

            “Your house?” Scott traded puzzled looks with Stiles.

            “Dude you’re not still living there are you?” Stiles asked. “Cause I gotta say-“

            “Just get here.” Derek growled. He hung up before either Scott or Stiles could respond.

            Stiles laughed a little hollowly. “Well he’s as friendly as always…”

            Scott shrugged, but smiled all the same.

***

            Scott and Stiles drive separately to Derek’s, Scott’s loath to leave his bike behind on the very first day he’d ridden it to school.

            “Derek?” Scott calls out.

            “In here.”

            Scott and Stiles step inside the charred remains of the house. Derek has Isaac laid out on a table. Derek’s leather jacket is balled up under Isaac’s head as a make shift pillow. Scattered around him on the table are dishes and a few plants Scott doesn’t recognize. Isaac’s eyes are closed, and his chest is a mess of fading bruises and strange greenish salve.

            “Is he going to be okay?” Scott asked.

            Derek nodded, and Scott noticed he looked a little worse for wear himself. “He just needs a little more time now.”

            Stiles leaned a little closer and cringed when he caught a sniff of the salve. “What happened to him?”

            “A rival wolf attacked him.” Derek said shortly.

            Scott frowned. “Why isn’t he healing faster?”

            “The wounds were from an Alpha.” Derek sighed. “It’s what the herbs are for. To help off set it.”

            “An Alpha?” Stiles cocked his head curiously. “What are they after your territory or something?”

            “Something like that.” Derek grumbled. “But look Isaac will be fine. You’ve seen that now. You two can go. Get back to you lives…”

            Stiles shrugs and turns to leave, but Scott pauses looking back to Derek.

            “Actually Derek- there’s something else I wanted to ask you…”

***

            Lydia watched as Allison finished grabbing the last of her books from her locker. Since Lydia’s car was still in the shop now Allison had offered to give her a ride. Lydia fished out her phone as she waited, finally turning it back on after Ms. Blake’s insane class.

            She had two missed calls from Jackson’s mother again. Lydia groaned.

            “What?” Allison asked.

            Lydia showed Allison her phone screen.

            Allison laughed. “Just call her back. Or answer the next time she calls. Come on aren’t you even a little curious what she wants?”

            “Not at all.” Lydia tisked. “But if it means she’ll finally leave me alone I’ll bite the bullet…

***

            “Yeah, I see it. Two bands, right?” Derek’s eyes glowed red as he studied Scott’s seemingly bare arm.

            Scott nodded. “Yeah.”

            Derek eyed Scott curiously. “What does it mean?”

            “I dunno.” Scott shrugs. “It’s just something I traced with my fingers.”

            “Why’s it so important to you?” Derek asks.

            Scott’s quiet for a minute before finally speaking up. “Do you know what the word tattoo means?”

            Stiles smiles knowingly and leans in towards Derek. “To mark something.”

            “That’s in Tahitian.” Scott said. “In Samoan it means open wound. I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned eighteen. I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now to make it kind of a reward.”

            Derek frowns. “For what?”

            Scott sighs. “For not calling or texting Allison all summer. Even when I really wanted to. Even when it was so hard not to sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wants. Now four months later, it still hurts. Still feels like a, uh...”

            “…Like open wound.” Stiles finishes.

            Scott nods. “Yeah.”

            Derek grabbed a small blowtorch and held it up for Scott to see. “Pain’s gonna be worse than anything you’ve ever felt.”

            “Oh-That’s great.” Stiles cringes.

            Scott braces himself. “Do it.”

            With a hiss Derek ignites the blowtorch, the tongue of flame spitting out quickly.

            “Oh. Wow-“ Stiles grimaces. “That’s-that’s a lot for me. So…I’m gonna take that as my cue… I’ll-uh, I’m actually gonna wait outside.

            “Nope.” Derek grabs Stiles’ shoulder and turns him back around. “I need you to help hold him down.”

            With a final nod from Scott, Derek presses the searing flame against Scott’s skin Scott groans-his eyes flashing golden and his fangs popping out as the fire burns it’s way into his body. He starts to twist away on instinct.

            “Oh my god-“ Stiles gags and tries to look away.

            “Hold him!” Derek shouts.

            Scott howls in pain.

***

            The phone rings, and just as Lydia is about to call it quits, Mrs. Whittemore finally picks up.

            “Lydia.” There’s a tone there that has Lydia rolling her eyes already. Allison just grins. “I’m so glad you were finally able to return my calls.”

            “Of course.” Lydia says sweetly. The expression doesn’t reach her eyes.

            “I was just hoping I could get you to check on Jackson for me.”

            “Jackson?” Lydia asks baffled. Next to her Allison frowns.

            “Yes. I know he wasn’t in school today and I haven’t been able to reach him. I’m sure he’s just a little under the weather from all the travel, but the house staff isn’t arriving until next week-“

            Lydia shakes her head. “I’m sorry-what? Jackson is here?”

            “Of course.” There’s a pause from the other end of the phone, and then a small note of worry creeps into Mrs. Whittemore voice. “Didn’t he contact you?”

            “Um…” Lydia looks to Allison in confusion. Allison shakes her head quickly and then points to Lydia’s phone suddenly. Lydia smiles and nods. “You know he may have tried. I’ve been having some trouble with my phone lately-“

            “Oh I’m sorry to hear that.” Mrs. Whittemore sighed. “Well when you speak to Jackson if you could let him know-“

            “Oh you know I’m going to have to let you go.” Lydia says suddenly. “There’s uh-there’s somewhere I have to be.”

            “But wait-“

            Lydia clicks off the phone and gives Allison a serious look.

            “Jackson’s parents think he’s back in Beacon Hills?” Allison asked.

            Lydia nods slowly. “And if he’s not over there, and he’s not here…then where the hell is he?”

***

            Scott comes to with a sudden start. His arm still stings a little, but when he looks down he’s thrilled to see the twin black bands standing out against his skin. he grins. “It worked…”

            “Well-“ Stiles gives his a friend an amused look. “Looks pretty permanent now.”

            “Yeah.” Scott traces his hand over the tattoo fondly. “Kind need something permanent. Everything that’s happened to us… everything just changes so fast. Everything’s so, uh... ephemeral.”

            Derek looks at Scott in pleasant surprise, and Stiles just grins.

            “Studying for the PSATs?”

            “Yep.” Scott nods.

            Stiles laughs. “Nice.”

            Stiles helps Scott up, and together they start to walk outside. Scott stops for a second in the entryway, the door to the house catching his eye. While the rest of the house is charred or battered, the door looks almost new.

            “You painted the door…” Scott frowned. “Why’d you paint the door?”

            Derek shakes his head. “Go home Scott.”

            Scott takes a closer look at the door. Only the outside has a fresh coat of paint. “And why only one side…?”

            “Scott-“Derek sighed.

            Scott ran one claw slowly over the center of the door on some kind of instinct, peeling away the top layer of paint and revealing part of a black line underneath. Scott shoots Derek a confused look. Before Derek can stop him Scott pops the rest of his claws and starts slashing the door, chipping away the paint little by little.

            “Scott don’t!” Derek shouts.

            It’s too late. Scott’s already uncovered a symbol painted onto the door. At first glance it almost resembles the triskelion from Derek’s back- the symbol of the Hale pack.  But the closer Scott looks the more the differences speak to him. This design is simpler, harsher somehow and less complicated. Instead of a winding spiral each side bears the same solid shape. Something clicks in Scott’s head.

            “The birds at school…” Scott says slowly. “And the deer last night. Just like the deer when I got bit by the alpha…” Scott turned to Derek seriously. “How many are there?”

            “…a pack of them.” Derek finally says bitterly. “An alpha pack.”

            “All of them?” Stiles asked in confusion. “How does that even work?”

            Derek shurgs. “I hear there’s some kind of leader. He’s called Deucalion…” Derek’s face darkens. “We know they have Boyd and Erica.  Peter, Isaac and I have been looking for them for the last four months.”

            “And you didn’t think to tell me?” Scott frowned. “You didn’t think I’d want to help?”

            “You have your own life to live. You’re a teenager Scott. I appreciate the offer really-“Derek says seriously. “But this is my problem.”

            “They’re our friends too.” Stiles says. “And in case you haven’t noticed-with all this weird animal activity this isn’t just your problem anymore.”

            “So we find them.” Scott says firmly. “We find Boyd and Erica. And then we’ll deal with this pack…” He pauses. “How do you deal with an alpha pack?”

            Derek manages a small smile. “With all the help I can get…”

            A sudden twig snapping behind them has Derek and Scott whipping their heads around, and Stiles nearly jumping three feet up into the air.

            “Well it’s nice to see some things never change…” A voice drifts out of the woods. “Beacon Hills is still nightmare of craziness…”

            Stiles gapes. “No way…”

            A battered and bloodied Jackson Whittemore stumbles out of the woods. He glares at the three of them before stumbling, and catching himself on a tree. He smiles weakly. “Care to give me a hand here?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know this first chapter is pretty similar to the original episode, but I needed to keep a lot of it that way to help establish where all the characters were at and to bring Jackson back in. I promise it will get more interesting as things develop. :)


	2. Chaos Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it turns out starting a new story right before finals and the holidays isn't really a great idea. Haha sorry this took long to get up. Hope you guys enjoy.

            The street was packed with cars, and from the lights and the sounds of music playing it was clear which house was their destination. Scott sighed as Stiles eased his jeep into a parking spot around the corner.

            “Are you sure this is really the time for us to be going to a party for another high school?”

            “Yes Scott.” Stiles groaned. “We need to have some fun. The ex-boyfriend of the girl I like just dropped into Beacon Hills, animals are acting crazy all over, and to top it all off there’s a new probably murderous pack of Alphas in town. An entire pack of them. Not to mention everything still being weird between you and Allison-“

            “Okay.” Scott huffed. “I get it. It just feels like we should be doing something… I don’t know…productive.”

            “Jackson and Isaac don’t remember enough about where they were being held to find it again yet so there’s nothing we can do there.” Stiles smiled and hopped out of his jeep. “Besides I’ve been friends with Heather for years, I’m not missing her party.”

            “We’re not going to know anyone else here.” Scott pointed out as they walked up to the house.

            Stiles grinned. “Scott my friend-that’s the whole point!” He rang the doorbell. “We can be anyone we want-“

            “Stiles!” A blonde girl cheered as she opened the door and pulled Stiles in, wrapping him up in a tight hug.

            “Heather hey!” Stiles beamed. Heather grabbed a cup off a tray and tried to pass it to Stiles. “Oh-huh no. Nope uh-I’m good.”

            Scott laughed and followed Stiles inside, closing the front door behind him. “So I guess we’re just being ourselves after all?”

            “Shut up.” Stiles chuckled. “So Scott this is Heather, Heather meet Scott.”

            “Nice to meet you.” Scott reached his hand out to shake Heather’s. The music spiked, getting even louder, and Scott fought back a grimace. “Some party.”

            “Thanks!” Heather shouted to be heard over the music. She offered Scott a quick smile before turning back to Stiles. “C’mon!”

            “Uh-“ Stiles spared a glance back at Scott as Heather grabbed his hand pulling him off towards the crowd. Scott grinned and gave Stiles a quick nod. “Okay sure.”

            Heather led him through a hall filled with other partygoers before finally turning and heading down into the basement. She shut the door again behind them and smiled nervously. “So it’s my birthday…”

            Stiles laughed. “Yeah I think I knew that.”

            “And do you know what I really want this year?” Heather asked.

            “Some quality cake?” Stiles offered. “I’m always a fan of chocolate personally, but red velvet’s good too.” Stiles shrugged. “Then again that’s really just dyed chocolate cake so-“

            Heather silenced him with a kiss. “What I _really_ want…” she said quickly, “…is to finally lose my virginity.”

            “Oh-“ Stiles stops and his eyes go suddenly wide. “OH! You mean like you and me-“

            Heather nods.

            “Right yeah…uh-“ Stiles babbles. “So uh-I’ve never actually done this either.”

            “Then I guess we can learn together.” Heather starts to lean in for another kiss.

            “Wait-“ Stiles frowns. “I uh-I don’t have any…you know…”

            Heather laughs. “My brother has some condoms upstairs. Bathroom drawer on the right.”

            “Why do you know where your brother keeps his condoms?” Stiles asked.

            “Just go get one!” Heather nudged Stiles playfully. She kicked off her shoes and started down further into her basement. “I’ll be here waiting…”

            “Yeah-yeah uh totally doing that.” Stiles fumbled for a second with the door and then raced up the stairs to the bathroom which was thankfully deserted. Stiles managed to find the box he needed in the drawer Heather had indicated, but he froze nervously when he saw the label on the package. _XXL_ … Stiles gulped and grabbed one anyways. Then reaching back he grabbed a handful more and rushed out of the bathroom.

            The basement seemed darker when Stiles got back, his eyes needing a second to adjust again after the brightness of the party upstairs. He saw Heather’s shoes right where she left them and smiled. “Heather?”

            No response. Stiles felt a strange draft and wandered across the basement curiously. There was no sign of Heather anywhere. But on the far wall the basement window was wide open.

            “Heather?”

***

            Isaac paced nervously. He was finally back on his feet thanks to Derek and whatever weird concoction of herbs he used to help Isaac heal, but at the moment Isaac almost wished he was still unconscious. He was with Derek and Jackson of all people in Derek’s new loft, waiting on Peter to finally show up. Derek had his nose in a book Isaac didn’t recognize, but Jackson looked almost as unhappy as Isaac.

            It was weird seeing Jackson in Beacon Hills again. According to Jackson he’d been back for a few days now, though he’d been a prisoner of the Alphas for most of that time. For reasons he couldn’t explain they had finally let him go once he’d helped Isaac in his escape, dumping Jackson off in the Beacon Hills preserve. Isaac, for his part, still couldn’t remember anything from his time being held by the Alphas, and Jackson’s recollection was pretty patchy too-but he was sure they were still holding Boyd and Erica. Which, in the end, was the reason Isaac had agreed to this. It didn’t mean he liked it.

            “Would you stop that Lahey please?” Jackson asked. “You’re making this worse.”

            “Sorry.” Isaac grimaced. He supposed Jackson was pack now, but things still felt odd after everything they’d been through. Derek seemed happy enough to have Jackson back, though as far Isaac could tell Jackson and Derek were doing the same weird dance and avoiding talking about anything Kanima related that they’d done all summer when Derek was training him. “I just really don’t like this…” Isaac sighed. “Or him really…” he added a littler quieter.

            “Nobody likes him.” Derek said easily without even looking up from his book. Isaac had actually been surprised by how much Derek did read. He didn’t even have a TV set up in the loft yet, but there was a pretty sizeable bookcase upstairs.

            Jackson nodded in agreement. “Can’t you just do this Derek?”

            Derek shook his head. “If I could I wouldn’t have invited him.”

            The door finally swung open, Peter waltzing in. “You know my powers may not be at their best with coming back from the dead and all-“ He gave them all a sardonic smile. “But my hearing still works fine. I would have hoped anything you wanted to say you’d be comfortable saying to my face…”

            Derek shut his book and eyed Peter impassively. “We don’t like you.”

            “Well thank you for that.” Peter rolled his eyes dramatically. “Are we doing this or what?” he raised a hand and wiggled his claws. Jackson watched them nervously. Peter caught his gaze and laughed. “There’s no reason to be that nervous-“

            “Last time you had those things out you used them to stab me in the heart.” Jackson said deadpan.

            “So did Derek!” Peter pouted. “And besides-you got better. No harm done right? What’s a little stabbing or a Molotov cocktail between friends?”

            Isaac frowned. “What?”

            “I helped light him on fire.” Jackson said. “Before. And we’re not friends.”

            “Oh.” Isaac nodded. “Right…”

            “And you don’t see me whining about it now do you?” Peter rolled up his sleeves. “Now which of you is going first?”

            Seeing Isaac’s nervous expression Jackson sighed and took a seat in front of Peter. “Just get it over with…”

            Peter lined his claws up carefully along Jackson’s neck. “I’d stay still if I were you. It’s been awhile since I’ve done this and I’d hate to accidently paralysis you…”

            “Great.” Jackson rolled his eyes and tried not to flinch as he felt the tips of Peter’s claws sink beneath his skin. Nothing happened. Jackson frowned. “So how do we know if this works-“

            He broke off as a flood of images bombarded him. Flashes of the Alphas. The room where Jackson had been held. Erica and Boyd. Jackson managing to help Isaac escape. Jackson grit his teeth and tried to focus, looking for something-anything- that might help them figure out a location. A symbol he didn’t recognize drifted across his view in a haze of other fragmented images. And then a face drifted into focus, a man in dark glasses with a cruel smile on his face. He was saying something, talking to someone outside of the room Jackson was being held in. Jackson had to focus. He had to remember what he’d said..

            _“…make sure they’re ready. They die during the full moon…”_

            Jackson tried to call it back, to see more but it was gone. He gasped as Peter broke the connection, running a hand back along his neck and the few strap drops of blood there.

            “Easy.” Peter held Jackson’s shoulder as he calmed down, and for a moment Jackson could almost believe he cared. Then the concern was gone, the same dark smile sliding back into place.

            “He’s going to kill them.” Jackson panted, trying to catch his breath. “During the full moon…”

            “That’s tomorrow night…” Isaac’s eyes were full of worry. He looked to Derek, but the Alpha’s face was an unreadable mask.

            “Everything always has to involve a moon…” Peter sighed. “Does that symbol mean anything to you?”

            Jackson shook his head.

            “What symbol?” Derek asked.

            “Uhh-“ Jackson frowned trying to think how he should describe it. Derek spared him the effort by pulling out a pencil and paper. “Thanks…” Jackson sketched it out quickly as Peter rifled through Isaac’s mind. Derek watched him closely.

            “Anything?”

            Peter shook his head and let his claws slip back into his hands. “Whichever one of them did this was very through. I saw that same symbol again though…”

            Isaac stood up and rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. He walked around to look over Jackson’s shoulder. “Yeah that’s it… no idea what it means?”

            “No.” Derek glared down at the design darkly. “But we’re going to find out.”

            A sudden knock came from the door and they all turned to look.

            “Were you expecting anybody else?” Isaac asked.

            “No.” Derek stalked forward and glanced out of the peephole. A low growl escaped his throat when he saw who it was.

            “Look Derek we know you’re in there, will you just let us in already?” Lydia called out briskly.

            Derek grumbled quietly, but opened the door. Though he didn’t open it all the way. Allison was standing behind Lydia, and Derek’s expression only darkened further upon seeing her. “What do you want?

            “We’re here to try and help.” Allison snapped back. “You don’t have to be so rude…”

            Derek pointed to Lydia. “She used me to resurrect my psychotic uncle-“

            “I can still hear you!” Peter shouted.

            Derek rolled his eyes. “Thanks so much for that.” He jabbed a finger at Allison. “And you shot about thirty arrows into me and my pack. Why would I ever want your help?”

            “It’s about Jackson.” Lydia began urgently. “His mother said-“

            “-He’s here.” Derek said shortly. “I know.”

            Jackson slowly walked into view, and waved to Lydia almost sheepishly. “Hey…”

            “Jackson-“ Lydia locked down her reaction to seeing him quickly, but not before surprise and hurt flashed across her face. Even if he’d missed it, Jackson could pick up the full depth of her emotions from the scent she was throwing off, which was quickly transitioning from concern to anger. “So you are back…” Lydia tossed her hair back and she immediately started down the hallway. “Well I guess we’re done here then-“

            “Lydia wait-“ Jackson jogged out into the hall easily catching her. “I _just_ got back. And I would have called you but this pack of Alphas grabbed me…”

            Lydia eyed him skeptically. “Are they the one who have Erica and Boyd?”

            Jackson nodded.

            “What’s that?” Lydia cocked her head at the now slightly crumpled drawing in Jackson’s hand.

            “Oh…” Jackson held it up for her to see. “Some symbol connected to where they are we think. They…did something to Isaac and me so we can’t remember but we’re hoping with this-“

            “Fine.” Lydia pursed her lips and took a quick picture of the symbol with her phone. “Goodbye Jackson.”

            Jackson frowned. “What that’s it?”

            “I’ll let you or Derek know if I find anything.”

            Allison started to follow Lydia back down the hall, pausing to give Jackson a small wave as she passed him.

            “Allison.”

            “Just give her some time.” Allison shot a glare back at Derek, who was now leaning up against the doorframe. She sighed and turned back to Jackson. “You moved away and broke up, and now that she’s trying to move on you’re suddenly back.”

            “It’s not like I wanted to leave.” Jackson griped. “My dad insisted…it took me all summer to convince my parents to let me come back.

            “I know…” Allison offered a weak smile, and hurried to catch Lydia. “But she still needs time…”

            Jackson sighed. “Yeah. Great…”

***

            School the next was awkward to say the least. Lydia kept shooting Jackson looks somewhere between angry glares and hurt ones. She was quiet the whole time Isaac and Jackson explained the situation with the Alphas to Stiles and Scott, and their need to uncover what the strange symbol mean. On the positive side, Jackson had Danny at least, who jogged down the hall and pulled him into a tight hug the minute he saw him. Jackson has filled him in privately on the Alphas and his return to Beacon Hills too. Danny took it all with an ease Jackson found almost laughable. Jackson had only told Danny the truth about werewolves a few months ago before his parents tried to permanently relocate him to London, and now here he was sitting in the library with Jackson researching ancient symbols.

            “-what about this one?” Danny turned a book around to point out the illustration to Jackson.

            Jackson shrugged and held it up next to the crude sketch he’d made. “It’s closer…still not quite the same though.” Danny nodded and went back to flipping through the book. “It could be related to it maybe…”

            A sudden familiar scent wafted over to Jackson, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Lydia and Allison claiming another library table with their own stack of books. Both of them were pointedly ignoring Jackson. They were both looking at something and talking in low voices. Jackson paused his own search for a minute to listen in hoping they were having better luck.

            “-I want one.”

            “Which one?” Allison asked giddily.

            Jackson peered around the bookcase and spied the twins, the two new transfer students. He frowned when he realized Lydia was scooping them both out.

            “The straight one.” Lydia said with a laugh. “Obviously.”

            Jackson glanced back to the twins and saw one of them-he still wasn’t sure which was which- wink at Lydia. Danny noticed where Jackson was looking and grinned.

            “Don’t tell me you’re jealous now.” Danny said.

            “No.” Jackson sighed. He really wasn’t. He and Lydia had broken up, and as far as she had known Jackson was going to be permanently out of the picture. Jackson couldn’t begrudge her moving on. It had taken Jackson all summer lobbying his parents to finally convince them to let him move back to Beacon Hills and finish high school with his friends, Jackson hadn’t wanted to tell anyone he was trying to come back until it was a done deal. He only even texted Danny it was happening when he was at the airport in London. Still it didn’t mean seeing Lydia trying to move on didn’t sting just a little. “She can do what she wants.”

            “Is it going to be like this with you two all year?” Danny groaned. “Cause I love you both and do not want to be stuck in the middle. You two need to find a way to be friends again.”

            “I’m trying…” Jackson sighed. Like usual there was plenty of wisdom in what Danny had to say. Jackson and Lydia had been good friends before they’d finally started dating halfway through their freshmen year. Honestly, things had been easier then, more natural. As much as Jackson and Lydia had loved one another their relationship had problems from the very beginning. Danny had even tried to talk Jackson out of it when he told him, but Jackson’s heart had been set. After all if they were good friends why wouldn’t they be a good couple? But as boyfriend and girlfriend something had changed, they always seemed to pushing each other to extremes, valuing the newfound popularity their life as a power couple brought them as much as they did each other. For all the good memories Jackson had of his time with Lydia, his summer away had given him some much needed perspective. Trying to date had led to toxic behavior on both their parts, and Jackson wasn’t eager to repeat it even if he did miss Lydia.

            Feeling Danny’s eyes still on him Jackson just shrugged. His gaze flicked back to the twins again a sudden idea occurring to him. “So you know Lydia says one of the twins is gay…”

            Danny frowned. “How do you know?”

            Jackson smirked and tapped his ears proudly. “Werewolf senses remember?”

            Danny craned his neck a little to look around Jackson at the twins, a small smile on his face. “Which one?” Danny asked.

            “The one on the right I think.” As Jackson watched the twin in question looked over at them and smiled. Jackson turned back to Danny with a grin. “Hey see? Maybe there’s something there…”

            But Danny was shaking his head, giving Jackson an amused look. “Yeah he wasn’t looking at me.” He laughed. “You know you make being your friend really difficult sometimes. I mean we get one super hot new gay guy this year and he has to have eyes for you?”

            “What?” Jackson snorted. “Oh come oh you’d totally be a catch.” He grinned. “If you weren’t sitting next to this I’m sure he’d have smiled at you.”

            Danny rolled his eyes. “Modest as ever. Good to see London didn’t change you.”

            Jackson laughed and glanced back over his shoulder. The twins were heading outside. “Want me to go talk to him for you?”

            “Like you ‘talked’ to Lydia for Greenberg freshmen year?” Danny asked grinning.

            “Please.” Jackson laughed and grabbed his bag grateful for a distraction. “Like Greenberg would have had a shot with Lydia anyways.”

            Seeing he was actually serious about going to talk to the twin Danny paled a little. “Jackson wait-“

            “I promise I won’t say anything about your little crush.” Jackson winked. “I’ll just causally mention my friend Danny is a very, very gay guy-“

            “Jackson!” Danny hissed a little too loudly, drawing several reproachful looks.

            Jackson smirked already jogging towards the door the twins had just left from. He did a quick one eighty when he stepped outside, finally spotting one of them sitting up against a tree a little ways away. Blue shirt. Jackson smiled-good. He was pretty sure blue shirt had been the one to smile at them. Jackson jogged over to the tree, still grinning at Danny reaction to Jackson trying to set him up. “Uh-Aiden?” Jackson called out.

            The twin smiled. “Ethan actually.”

            “Oh.” Jackson frowned looking at him a little more carefully. “But you are the gay one right?”

            Ethan burst out laughing. “Yeah I’m gay.”

            “Good.” Jackson smirked. “So I don’t know if you saw my friend Danny-“

            “I saw him.” Ethan smiled. “He’s cute...”

            “Glad you think so.” This was going to be even easier than Jackson thought. “Because actually-“

            “…but he’s not my type.” Ethan finished.

            “How can he not be your type?” Jackson frowned irritably. “Trust me you won’t find a better guy-“

            “To be honest you’re much more my type.” Ethan stood up slowly hooking his arm around a low hanging tree branch.

            “What?” Jackson asked suddenly taken aback.

            Ethan laughed. “You’re everybody’s type right?” He smiled wider when he saw Jackson’s confusion. “Oh you’d be surprised the things people decide to tell you when you’re new.” Ethan cocked his head studying Jackson. “So is everybody your type then too?”

            “Uh-“ Jackson stuttered. “I’m not-“ He shook his head. “Look you’d seriously be a lot happier with Danny-“

            “Maybe.” Ethan shrugged and scribbled something on a sheet of paper, tearing it free of his binder. “But in case you ever change your mind…” He passed it over to Jackson and grinned. “Anyway-I should be getting to my next class…”

            Jackson turned to watch him leave, still baffled. “What do you mean?” He looked down at the paper Ethan had handed him.

            _Ethan Steiner-the gay (and much hotter) twin_.

            Underneath it Ethan had written out his phone number. Jackson stared at it for a full minute still unsure exactly what had just happened. The bell rang and Jackson quickly crumpled the note up. But looking around there weren’t any trashcans out on this side of the building. Jackson sighed and hastily shoved it into his pocket. He had to get to class too. He could always throw it away later.

***

            “The Stock Market…”

            Coach Finstock was making a show of lecturing, pacing around in front of the classroom with a yardstick in hand. “What are the most basic principles it runs on huh? Anyone.”

            Scott raised his hand along with a few of his other classmates.

            Coach sighed, his gaze wandering over Scott and on to the other students. “Yes McCall you can go to the bathroom.”

            “No Coach-“ Scott smiled proudly. “I know the answer.”

            Coach stopped pacing and eyed him curiously. “Then let’s hear it McCall.”

            “Risk and reward.”

            “Yes!” Coach pumped his arm and grinned, clearly thrilled that one of his players had known the right answer. Scott was pretty happy himself. Stiles smirked and gave Scott a small thumbs up.

            “Risk and reward. Exactly right.” Coach dropped the yardstick down onto the desk and picked up an empty cup and a quarter. “Now what if I were to tell you that I was going to have a pop quiz tomorrow-but anyone who was able to get this coin in the cup-“ Coach set the cup on the floor and walked across to a thin line of tape on the opposite side of the room. “-from right here, wouldn’t have to take it?”

            Danny laughed. “It’s not really a pop quiz if you tell us about it Coach.”

            “Not the point Danny.” Coach waved him up. “Come here a minute-now take this…” Coach handed Danny the coin and steered him towards the line. “So now-“ Coach said turning back to the class. “What does Danny risk if he tries to make the shot?”

            “Nothing.” Stiles said easily. “He’d still just have to take the quiz tomorrow.”

            “Yes. So then with that in mind- what should Danny here do?” Coach asked.

            Scott raised his hand again. Coach beamed. “McCall?”

            “He should take the shot.” Scott said slowly. “There’s no real risk so the potential reward outweighs it.”

            “Very good!” Coach grinned. “Alright Danny now go ahead-“

            A knock on the classroom door causes Coach to break off. The Sheriff is standing there in his full uniform. “Hold that thought…”

            “Sorry to interrupt Coach.” The Sheriff sighs. “I was wondering if I could talk to my son for just a moment?”

            Stiles shuffled out of his seat and into the hallway with his dad. “What’s up dad?”

            “It’s about your friend Heather.” The Sheriff sighed. “Her parents reported her missing this morning. Seems no one’s seen her since last night.”

            “What?” Stiles shook his head anxiously. “Dad-“

            “I know. I know champ.” The Sheriff nods sadly. “It’s why I wanted you to hear this from me. We’re out looking for her now. With all the department’s resources. We’ll find her.”

            “Yeah…” Despite his father’s reassurance Stiles could feel a nagging worry taking root deep in his gut. “But what if you don’t?”

***

            “You’re still here?”

            “Hmm?” Allison looked up from her computer to find Lydia striding back into the library. “Free period…”

            “Right.” Lydia frowned taking in the stack of books on Allison’s table. “What are you working on?” Lydia peered down at the titles and frowned. “ _Ancient Signs and Symbols?_ I thought Derek made it pretty clear he didn’t want our help.”

            “I don’t care what Derek said. And you were looking into it too.” Allison huffed.

            “Hmm sure.” Lydia glanced back over her shoulder and smiled. “But do you really think you’re going to find something in there Derek hasn’t thought of? Face it even with all your family knowledge he still knows more about wolves than you do… Besides I already looked in that book.”

            “Well I feel like I should be doing _something_.” Allison sighed. “Besides Derek hasn’t found anything yet either.”

            “That you know of.” Lydia said pointedly. “Anyways if you’ll excuse me…”

            Allison frowned. “What do you mean-“ She watched as Lydia turned around and headed for another table on the far wall. One of the new twins was sitting there grinning across the room at Lydia. Allison shook her head, and her eyes fell on the cover of her notebook, the logo for Beacon Hills high school emblazoned on the cover. Allison pushed aside the book she had been hopelessly leafing through and reached for her laptop eagerly. “Maybe it’s not a symbol after all…”

***

            “Stiles!” Scott called after him as he rushed down the hallway, bobbing and weaving around his classmates as best he could. “Stiles wait up!”

            Scott finally caught up to him outside. Stiles was pacing in a tight circle, and running a hand through his short cut hair. “You okay?” Scott asked. “What was up with your dad?”

            “It’s Heather.” Stiles said slowly. “She’s missing. No one’s seen her since last night.

            Scott frowned. “Maybe she just went to someone else’s house to celebrate some more. She could have-“

            “No.” Stiles was already shaking his head. “C’mon Scott…no. She said she was going to wait for me downstairs…and then the window…” Stiles’ breathing was starting to get a little quicker. Scott placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

            “It’s okay…” Scott said. “Hey Stiles-it’ll be okay. If she’s missing then we’ll find her okay?”

            Stiles nodded slowly. “It’s just-we’ve been friends since we were kids Scott. Out moms used to set up play dates together for us…” Stiles took a slow deep breath, his eyes darkening. “Do you think the Alphas could have anything to with it?”

            Scott frowned. “What?”

            “The Alpha pack.” Stiles shrugged half-heartedly. “We know they have Boyd and Erica. And they had grabbed Jackson and Isaac too…”

            “Yeah but they’re all wolves…” Scott considered it for a moment. “Do you think they’d grab just a regular person too?”

            “I don’t know but they’re up to something!” Stiles flung his hands up in frustration. “Jackson and Isaac seem to think the Alphas want to kill Boyd and Erica on the full moon. And then the night before Heather goes missing? And all the weird animal stuff? It can’t just be a coincidence.”

            “Maybe…” Scott wasn’t so sure-and judging by Stiles expression he wasn’t either.

            “All I know is we need to find to them.” Stiles said firmly. “Because if not I’m sure something completely horrible is going to happen. And that’s a guarantee you can take to the bank-“ he broke off suddenly, his expression frozen and his head tilted almost comically.

            “What?” Scott asked.

            Stiles actually smiled. “I think I know where the Alphas are.”

***

            “He seriously gave you his number?” Danny laughed.

            “Yeah…” Jackson grumbled. He leaned back against the wall of lockers as Danny finished grabbing the last of his books keeping an eye out in case Ethan should happen to walk by. The last thing Jackson needed was to make things even more awkward. “Stop laughing.”

            “I can’t help it.” Danny shook his head grinning. “Seriously. It’s a good thing we’re friends or I might have to hate you.”

            “I didn’t ask him for his number.” Jackson pouted.

            “But he gave it to you.” Danny chuckled. “And-“ Danny grinned a little wider. “You haven’t gotten rid of it yet.”

            “I’m leaving.” Jackson threw his bag over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. “Call me later if you’re done being an idiot.”

            “Alright.” Danny waved cheerfully. “See you later Romeo. Seriously-You’re just the best wingman ever.”

            Jackson flipped him off over his shoulder, which only made Danny laugh harder. Jackson stepped outside and frowned. As goofy as it was, Jackson had to admit Danny had a point. Why hadn’t he thrown away Ethan’s number yet? The little balled up paper seemed to weigh heavily in his pocket. _I shouldn’t just throw it away without saying something to him first. Besides he put his name on it too-if I just threw it away anyone could find it and start bugging him…_ That made sense right? It seemed clear enough in Jackson’s head. Jackson turned towards his car, resolving to find Ethan at school tomorrow and explain that while Jackson totally understood the inclination to date him-it was always flattering- Jackson just wasn’t interested. Then he could give Ethan his number back and put this whole weird situation behind him.

            A metallic clang and a mumbled curse pulled Jackson from his thoughts. Ethan was huddled over his motorcycle, some part Jackson didn’t recognize, but which looked fairly important held in his hand.

            “Everything okay?” Jackson asked.

            “Not really.” Ethan sighed. “I can fix it but I don’t have everything I need with me.”

            “That sucks.” Jackson eyed the bike skeptically. Besides the part in Ethan’s hand Jackson wouldn’t have been able to tell anything was wrong-and like his brother’s parked next to it Ethan’s bike looked almost brand new. “You uh-you need a ride?”

            “Are you offering?” Ethan gave Jackson a mischievous look and Jackson could feel his face heating up a little.

            “I meant-“

            Ethan smiled. “I know what you meant. And thanks.” He shrugged amicably. “But I’ll just ride on the back of Aiden’s. I’ll have to come back here to get this later.” Ethan waved at his own motorcycle.

            “Right…” Jackson coughed awkwardly and reached into his pocket fishing out the sheet of paper Ethan had given him earlier. “Listen I wanted to give this back…”

            “Keeping it isn’t a promise of anything more.” Ethan laughed. “My number’s yours. It’s fine if you’re not interested. Brand new here remember? I’ll take a friend as much as a boyfriend.”

            Jackson reluctantly put the paper back in his pocket. “You seem like a nice guy it’s just-“ Jackson’s phone suddenly started ringing. He grabbed for it and saw a number he vaguely recognized from some of the mass texts Coach Finstock would send out to the lacrosse team when they were in season, but there wasn’t any name saved to it in Jackson’s phone.

            “Hello?”

            “We’re meeting at the loft. Stiles thinks he knows where the Alphas are keeping Boyd and Erica.”

            “Lahey?” It took Jackson a second to place the voice over the phone but it really couldn’t be anyone else.

            “Yeah...” There was a pause from the other end of the line. “Why do you sound surprised?”

            “Uh-no reason.” Jackson fumbled, not really wanting to admit he’d never bothered to add Isaac’s name into his phone before. “Just distracted sorry. I’ll be there in ten.”

            Ethan smiled, watching as Jackson stowed his phone back in his pocket. “You’ve got to go?”

            “Yeah…” Jackson spared him one last look, a little guiltily. “You uh-you sure you’re good?”

            “Aiden will show up soon enough.” Ethan laughed. “But your concern really is touching. Good to know chivalry exists in Beacon Hills.”

            Jackson snorted. “Pretty sure you’re the first and only person to use that term for me.” Jackson waved half-heartedly. “Anyway I-uh I guess I’ll see you later…”

            Ethan smiled and spun the metal piece from his bike around his finger slowly. “Looking forward to it…”

***

            Somehow Scott and Stiles were the last ones to arrive at Derek’s place-even Peter had beaten them there. Derek and Isaac were huddled up around a table, Jackson hovering just a half step behind. Peter, meanwhile, was lounging on a nearby chair and seemingly unfazed by the urgency of the others.

            “You found something?” Derek barked out.

            “Yeah.” Stiles nodded and grabbed the papers he’d hurriedly printed from the school library out of his backpack. “Take a look at this.”

            Derek grabbed the papers and frowned. “A bank robbery? Stiles-“

            “Look at the bank’s logo-“ Stiles pointed to a picture at the top of the page. “See?”

            Derek frowned. “It looks like the symbol Jackson and Isaac saw.”

            “Yeah except I don’t think it just looks alike I think this _is_ what they saw.” Stiles said quickly. “The bank’s empty-it’s been closed down since the break in. And the room you guys were talking about being in-“ Stiles turned to Jackson and Isaac hopefully. “Doesn’t that sound a lot like a bank vault?”

            “Maybe…” Isaac said uncertainly.

            “But what’s so special about some random bank that they would keep us there?” Jackson asked. “If this place was already broken into once there’d have to be more secure places right?”

            “Are you complaining this isn’t going to be hard enough?” Derek asked with a glare.

            Jackson shrugged. “No I’m just saying-“

            “What’s the vault made out of?”

            “What?” Scott and everyone else turned to look at Peter. Peter sighed and repeated his question.

            “The vault-what’s it made out of?”

            “Why is that important?” Scott asked.

            Peter practically rolled his eyes. “Jackson has a point. There must be some reason the Alphas picked that spot…” Peter turned to Stiles expectantly.

            “Uhhh-“ Stiles flipped through the pages he’d printed off frantically. “It doesn’t say. Guess banks aren’t really in the habit of advertising that kind of stuff.”

            “It doesn’t matter.” Derek said sternly. “We need to get in there and get Boyd and Erica out regardless.”

            “How exactly do we break into a bank guarded by a pack of Alphas?” Jackson asked.

            “That I might be able to help with.” Stiles flipped to one of the last pages in the set where he’d scribbled some quick notes in the corner. “I looked up how the robbers got in last time- there’s this air duct that runs along the building that leads down to a wall they drilled through. Of course it was patched back up after…”

            “Not a problem.” Derek grumbled.

            “What you just have an industrial drill lying around somewhere you can use?” Stiles quipped. “And that you’ll have no problem lugging down the ducts and then using? I think the ducts are the right way to go but we’ll need-“

            “I can get us in.” Derek said firmly.

            “How?” Stiles asked skeptically.

            Derek lifted his fist slowly. “Werewolf remember?”

            Stiles sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. “Derek your going to have barely any room in that vent you seriously think you can muster up enough force to punch through a solid wall?”

            “Yes.”

            “All right then tough guy-“ Stiles huffed. “Let’s see it. Let’s see this werewolf super punch-“

            Derek’s fist whipped out slamming into Stiles open palm and sending him staggering back a half dozen steps. Stiles gasped, and shook his hand out painfully. Derek look rather pleased with himself.

            “You nearly broke my hand!” Stiles groaned.

            Jackson rolled his eyes. “You asked for it Stilinski.”

            “Seriously Scott-“ Stiles was still clutching his injured hand. “Did you see-“

            “Stiles.” Scott laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Focus on the positive okay? We have a plan now right?”

            “I guess…” Stiles grumbled. “But once you all get in there you’re still going to have to fight who knows how many Alphas…”

            “At least three of them.” Isaac piped up. “Based on what Jackson and I saw.”

            “Meaning we out number them almost two to one.” Derek said evenly. “More so if we can find Boyd and Erica.”

            “And assuming there aren’t any more Alphas Isaac and Jackson didn’t see.” Scott added pointedly.

            “-And I’m afraid yours truly won’t be joining you.” Peter smiled sardonically. “still not quite up to my fighting weight…”

            “Fine.” Derek glared at Peter. “But the rest of us are going in. We’re getting them back.”

            Isaac and Jackson slowly nodded. When Derek caught his eye Scott reluctantly joined in. Something about this still felt off.

            “Alright then.” Derek growled his eyes flashing red briefly. “Let’s move out.”

***

            They got to the bank easily enough. It was dark by the time they finally pulled up, and as best Scott could tell the bank was empty. Then again it wasn’t like he’d expected whoever these Alphas were to put up a sign.

            “You guys there yet?” Stiles voice crackled over Scott’s phone. Scott had insisted he stay behind in Derek’s loft. If it was going to come down to a werewolf vs. werewolf fight Scott wanted his still very human friend as far away from it as possible. Of course in this case that meant he was alone with Peter across town, which was really only a little better.

            Scott sighed. “Yeah we’re here.”

            Derek took one more look down the street, then waved for Scott to follow him across. The plan was for Derek to go through first to make the hole with Scott backing him. Isaac and Jackson would hang back to keep an eye on the bank’s actual entrance, and then follow once Derek and Scott were in.

            Just as Derek was set to start climbing up the duct Scott grabbed his arm, earning a glare from Derek.

            “What?” Derek growled anxiously.

            “We’re rushing this.” Scott said slowly. He flashed back to Coach’s lesson. “We aren’t weighing the risks properly. Think about it-the Alphas grabbed Erica and Boyd months ago, why are they waiting till now to do anything? And why would they let Jackson go? The risk we take going in there isn’t worth the reward.”

            Derek was glaring daggers at Scott. “It is if you care about Boyd and Erica.”

            Scott winced guiltily. “Derek-“

            Derek sighed. “Look Scott I’m going in there. I’m not losing them. Whether or not you follow me is up to you…”

            Scott’s gut was still nagging at him but he nodded reluctantly.

            “Okay then.” Derek hopped up and started the climb into the ductwork. Scott gave him a minute head start and then jumped up after him.

***

            Allison killed her headlights and eased her car into a parking space. She was still almost two blocks from the bank, but the last thing she wanted to do was draw attention to herself. Especially if this Alpha pack really was holed up there. Allison reached for the box she’d snuck out of her garage. She’d left her bow at home but Allison had been able to stash five small knives inside. If she got into any trouble in close quarters they’d probably be better anyways. Allison hid them quickly, putting them each into easy to reach spots all over her body. Then she reached for the last item inside. Allison had never used one before, but tonight she needed all the help she could get. It looked like a simple necklace, with a large over sized pendant, but the many holes in it had a special purpose. Cracking the pendant open Allison stuffed it with the strange collection of herbs she’d found. The odor from the herbs was supposed to completely mask Allison’s own scent or near enough. Whatever the combination was it supposedly deadened a werewolf’s sense of smell once they got a whiff of it, hopefully letting Allison move about unnoticed. Allison knew her father and some of his men had used them before for hunting, but Allison never had. In the ideal world she’d have liked to test it once, really see that it worked for herself before taking a chance like this, but time wasn’t on her side. Allison took a deep breath and eased the chain of the necklace over her head. She couldn’t smell anything. Allison just hoped that was a good thing…

***

            Derek and Scott charged through the hole as soon as Derek was finished making it wide enough. If someone was inside the bank, the wall shattering was sure to attract their attention. They waited, battle stances ready.

            Nothing.

            Derek cocked his head listening, Scott followed suit, but the whole place was eerily quite. Derek took a step a forward, but didn’t retract his claws.

            “Go let Jackson and Isaac in.”

            Scott nodded and slunk off to find the front door. Derek poked his head into a few nearby rooms cautiously. Finding nothing still, he trailed after Scott. Between the two of them they were able to remove the pile of junk in front of the doors pretty quickly. When they finally got the doors open Jackson and Isaac barreled in anxiously.

            Derek held up a hand to slow them down. “No sign of them yet. Is this the place?”

            Jackson stepped forward cautiously. It looked familiar but it was hard to tell… he shared a quick look with Isaac. Isaac eyed the walls carefully. On the opposite side of the front door a large mural of the bank’s logo took up the majority of the wall. Isaac nodded slowly.

            “This is it.”

            “Okay-“ Derek pushed past Jackson and Isaac putting himself out in front again. If they did come across any Alphas Derek would hopefully prove an even match. “Keep your eyes open for any signs of them or Boyd and Erica. And stay close.”

            Scott could feel his worry becoming more and more palpable as they made their way to the vault. Shouldn’t they have encountered some resistance by now? If these Alphas were really holding Boyd and Erica in the vault that should be the last place they’d want them to go…

            “Why hello Derek.” A devilishly smooth voice called out of the darkness. “I was so hoping you’d accept our little invitation…”

            Derek stopped walking and snarled. “Invitation?”

            “Well of course.” A well-dressed man in dark glasses steped out of the shadows. The fact he was able to hide there without any of them sensing him was pretty worrying. The man smiled. “You didn’t think –Jackson and Isaac wasn’t it?-you didn’t think they escaped just by chance did you?”

            “I’m here for Boyd and Erica.” Derek growled. “We know you have them.”

            “Just as I knew you’d come for them.” The man laughed. “Surly you had to realize this was a trap?”

            “I’m not leaving them with you.” Derek ground out.

            “Spoken like an Alpha still chained by his pathetic betas.”

            That got growls from Jackson and Isaac as well as Derek. The man just smiled wider.

            “Oh Derek-you could be so much more…”

            “And who the hell are you?” Derek snapped.

            “Me?” The man’s glasses glinted in the narrow light. “I’m Deucalion.”

            “What?” Derek took a half step back, confusion flitting across his face.

            Deucalion smiled wider. “I take it you’ve heard of me.”

            “Who is this guy Derek?” Scott asked.

            “Mr. McCall…” Deucalion laughed. “I’m sure we’ll be more acquainted shortly… For now though I’m afraid the pleasantries are at an end-Kali?”

            A clicking sound echoed down the hall as a dark haired woman came into view. But it wasn’t heels, or some other shoe…her bare feet sported claws as long and deadly as the set on her hands. Her eyes burned red and she grinned manically.

            “This will be fun.”

            Derek roared in challenge and rushed to meet her. Kali barred her fangs and jumped, slicing Derek across the face with a clawed foot before landing halfway up the wall. Derek whipped the blood off his face and grimaced. Isaac and Jackson charged forward next, Jackson springing off of Isaac’s back to take a swing at Kali. She flipped off the wall easily, landing between Derek and Isaac and sweeping Isaac’s leg in one fluid movement. She stabbed Isaac’s calf muscle with her claws and he groaned. Derek swung at her again, this time managing to grab her and pull her off of Isaac. Derek threw her back against the wall, as Jackson came running back to hold her arm. Scott surged forward to grab her other hand, but before his hands could reach her he was lifted bodily by the back of his neck and thrown across the room.

            Scott landed roughly and stumbled to his feet. His attacker was another Alpha, even bigger than Derek. His eyes burned as bright as Kali’s, an intensity to the red that Derek’s own Alpha eyes lacked.

            “Nice of you to join us Ennis.” Deucalion was smiling, having simply stepped out of the way when Scott was thrown closer to the vault.

            Ennis rushed Scott and slammed his fist into the younger Beta’s face. Scott nearly fell again, but managed to shuffle back a bit instead. Ennis just laughed and threw another blow at Scott’s chest. Deucalion, meanwhile seemed content to sit back and watch, studying Scott with an almost clinical disdain.

            Scott reeled from another blow. He simply couldn’t match up even with the Alpha. “Derek!” Scott groaned desperately.

            Derek turned away from his own fight with Kali, taking in Scott’s predicament in an instant. He pulled back, leaving Jackson and Isaac to handle Kali on their own and moved to help Scott with Ennis. Derek slammed into Ennis from behind, and then was all over him. Derek might not have been able to match Ennis in raw strength, but Derek’s superior technique and speed was already tipping the fight in his favor.

            Kali was mostly toying with Jackson and Isaac at this point, their collected efforts falling well short of putting her in any real danger. With Derek turning to help Scott they’d been reduced to just trying to stay away from her claws-and still she was landing hits on them. Cut after cut they were adding up, bleeding the two Betas out as Kali laughed and spun.

            But together Derek and Scott were proving more than a match for Ennis. With Derek’s power, and Scott to help give him a little extra breathing room they were wearing the rival Alpha onto submission. And still Deucalion seemed content to simply watch. Kali shot an almost worried look their way, if Ennis went down it would be four against one, and even with her talents Scott couldn’t imagine she liked those odds.

            Then Deucalion raised his cane-a signal of some sort and Kali sprung free from Isaac and Jackson, jumping clear over their heads to nail Derek’s exposed back. Derek roared in pain and turned back to face her, leaving Kali and Ennis almost encircled by Derek’s pack and Scott. But more rumbling was coming from behind Jackson and Isaac, and as they watched the largest wolf Scott had ever seen barreled into the room. He was easily twice the size of even Ennis, with a strange blue mark running the length of his face.

            “Hold them.” Deucalion said firmly.

            Without even breaking a sweat the giant Alpha grabbed a hold of both Jackson and Isaac, snatching them up before either could react and slamming them into the ground. The monster Alpha kneeled then, one hand each on Jackson’s and Isaac’s chests and pinned them to the ground with the full force of its strength.

            Deucalion wrenched the door to the vault behind Scott and Derek open, and nodded to Kali and Ennis. “Do it!”

            Working in tandem the pair forced Scott and Derek back, pounding them again and again, until battered and bleeding they stumbled into the vault.

            Deucalion waved behind him. “Marin!”

            Scott watched, confused, as Ms. Morrell stepped out of the shadows. Her face was impossible to read, and before Scott could think to say anything to her she threw a cloud of mountain ash from her left hand, the particles settling in a perfect line across the door to the vault, sealing Derek and Scott inside. Deucalion moved to leave, signaling to both Kali and Ennis who fell in behind him without a word. Only Ms. Morrell sparred a look back at Derek and Scott.

            Looking around the vault desperately Scott saw the whole room was lined in a circle of mountain ash. Even if there was another way out he and Derek wouldn’t be able to make it. But more important was who else was in the vault.

            “Boyd!” Derek ran to his Beta. Boyd had wedged himself into a corner of the room, the farthest from the door and was rocking back and forth agitatedly, eyes squeezed tightly shut. “Boyd what’s wrong? Where’s Erica?”

            “You have to go-“ Boyd gasped and Scott could see his fangs poking though behind his lips. “The walls-“

            As one Scott and Derek turned to look at the walls. They looked like ordinary white stone. Probably marble or something similar Scott reasoned. He couldn’t find anything sinister in them, but Derek swore.

            “What is it?” Derek didn’t seem to be listening, his eyes full of worry and back on Boyd. “Derek!” Scott shouted. “What about the walls?”

            “They’re made of Hecatolite.” Derek grimaced. “It blocks the moonlight from getting though. Would stop any werewolf locked inside from transforming-even on a full moon.”

            Scott frowned. “But the door’s open…”

            “After being starved from moonlight for long enough the full moon would be enough to drive a werewolf mad. A kind of berserker fugue state… Stronger, faster, but completely out of control…”

            Boyd’s eyes snapped open and they were pure yellow-even the whites of his eyes replaced by the werewolf glow.

            “Boyd you have to fight it-“

            Boyd growled and ambled to his feet. There was nothing human in the sound.

            “What do we do?” With the mountain ash they were completely trapped. “Derek what do we do?” Scott asked desperately.

            Derek shook his head. There was nothing to do. “Boyd-“

            But it was clear Boyd was gone. The minute the Alphas had opened the vault his body had been flooded with moonlight and completely overwhelmed after going so long without it. He howled mindlessly and charged. Scott watched in horror as Derek extended his claws again, his face a mask of pain.

            “Derek don’t-”

            A pulse passed through the room like a sudden breath of fresh air. The mountain ash barrier shimmered and died. Scott whirled around in shock to see Allison standing by the door to the vault, dusting the last of the mountain ash line there away.

            Scott smiled in relief. “Allison-“

            Boyd slammed past Scott and Derek and straight towards Allison. Allison managed to pivot out of the way at the last minute, brining a knife up, but Boyd was already gone.

            Derek climbed back to his feet furious. “What did you do?” he growled at Allison. “Do you even realize what you just did?”

            “I saved your life.” Allison snapped. “Sorry if you object to that.”

            “No what you did was just let Boyd out.” Derek growled. “Out there-“ He waved towards the bank’s entrance. “-where can he do who knows how much damage.”

            Scott sighed. “Derek stop…”

            “See if you can find Erica.” Derek grumbled. “I’ll handle Boyd…” And with that he climbed out of the vault making a beeline for the bank’s door. He stopped only for a minute to help Jackson and Isaac back up to their feet. It looked like the alphas were already long gone.

            “Scott I didn’t-“ Allison started.

            “I know.” Scott sighed. “But Derek’s right too.” Scott climbed down out of the vault bleeding from a dozen minor cuts and his body aching. He doubted Derek or the others were in much better shape. “We have to try and find Erica… and then deal with Boyd”

***

            Halfway across town Lydia was sound asleep. She’d knocked off early so she could get up and work on a project in the library before school. Lydia was dreaming-she had to be, strange images were flashing before her. Her eyes flew open and Lydia sat bolt upright, suddenly completely awake. And then she screamed.

 


	3. Fireflies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took longer to get up! Life got kind of crazy there for awhile. I'm hopping to update this and my other stories more regularly now that things have settled again.

            His car was dead. Kevin cursed quietly and kicked it. And of course there was nothing but forest around… He sighed bitterly. Only in Beacon Hills… Kevin switched the car off and waited a minute. He turned the key again and grimaced, hoping to hear the battered growl of the engine coming to life.

            Instead a very different growl drifted in from the window…

            Kevin whirled suddenly, freezing when he caught sight of the glowing yellow eyes, fierce claws and a mouth full of fangs.

            “Holy sh-“

            The monster-whatever it was- growled again and crept towards his car. Kevin had just a minute to think he was a dead man walking-well sitting really- when another shape burst out of the underbrush and slammed into the monster. This one was smaller, lithe and more compact, but Kevin could have sworn its eyes were glowing too. Having grabbed the monster’s attention the second shape darted back into the woods, the monster hot on its trail.

            Kevin heaved a huge sigh of relief, still not entirely sure what the hell had just happened. Regardless, he felt pretty clear he’d just had a seriously lucky break. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a gentle knock came on his driver side window. Just when Kevin was sure his night couldn’t get any weirder- Jackson Whittemore of all people was motioning for him to roll down his window. With his car still unresponsive, Kevin had to opt to crack the door open slightly instead.

            “J-jackson?”

            “You okay?”

            Kevin nodded dumbly.

            “Good.” Jackson sighed and seemed to size up Kevin’s car for a minute. “You might want to call a tow truck for that…”

            Kevin’s mind still felt like it was playing catch up, trying to wrap itself around what the hell he’d just seen. “Wh-?”

            But Jackson was already jogging around Kevin’s car and into the woods, off in the same direction the monster and who knows what else had run. Kevin slammed his car door shut again and fumbled around for his phone.

            “I’ve got to get out of this crazy town…”

***

            “Scott-“

            Scott wasn’t looking at her, he just kept walking, slowly checking the rest of the rooms in the bank for any sign of Erica.

            “Scott come on-“ Allison tried again, her frustration mounting. “Whatever this is leave it for Derek-“

            “Derek’s our friend.” Scott said simply, peaking into another room. “And these other Alphas kidnapped Boyd and Erica. And tried to take Isaac and Jackson too…”

            Allison stopped cold. “Derek is _not_ my friend.”

            Scott sighed. “Allison-“

            “He killed my mother Scott.” Allison ground out. “He took her from me…”

            Scott crossed his arms. “You know that’s not what happened.”

            Allison flushed furiously. Sure maybe Derek hadn’t been the one to end her mother’s life, but he’d put her on that path. “He bit her…” Allison snapped. “He knew what that would mean…”

            Scott didn’t say anything. But Allison caught the slight slump of his shoulders, the almost guilty way he avoided looking directly at her… Allison’s eyes narrowed.

            “What?”

            “I didn’t say anything…” Scott mumbled.

            “Don’t give me that.” Allison stepped around Scott, stopping in front of him and blocking his path. “What is it?”

            Scott sighed. “Didn’t you ever wonder what your mom was doing?”

            Allison’s expression darkened. “What are you talking about?”

            “That night…” Scott was watching her carefully. “… _why_ Derek bit your mom…”

            Allison had been so sure she knew enough about what had happened. Derek had bitten her mom- she’d died. End of story. But now looking at Scott’s face… Allison felt a cold dread rising up inside her. “Scott-“

            “Your mom tried to kill me Allison-with wolfsbane.” Scott said it with sympathy, knowing the pain it might cause her, but he continued anyways. Allison needed to know. “Your mom had found out we were dating somehow…”

            “No- Scott…” Allison could feel herself staring to tear up. “Don’t-“

            “It’s the truth-“

            Allison didn’t want to hear anymore. She suddenly needed to be alone. She started racing down the bank’s hallway, Scott following along right behind her.

            “Allison wait-“

            Scott blocked the path forward trying to calm her down, but Allison just turned and wrenched the nearest door in the wall open. She pushed through-

            -and nearly walked right into Erica’s body.

            Allison gasped, and behind her Scott gave a little cry of surprise.

            “Erica…” Scott took a slow step forward, collapsing down onto his knees.

            Allison was shaking. “Is she-“

            Scott nodded grimly. “I-I guess I have to call Derek…

***

            Jackson huffed breathlessly as he trudged up the hill after Isaac. He didn’t know how much longer they were going to be able to keep this up. With Boyd moon mad or whatever you wanted to call it, there was little chance Derek, Isaac and Jackson could take him down even working together, without some serious injuries on both sides. Barring that, the three of them had been tailing Boyd most of the night, redirecting him when they needed to try and keep him away from anyone he might hurt. It devolved into something like a high stakes game of tag. Right now Derek was “it” and was trying to lead Boyd around a campsite he’d spotted, Isaac and Jackson hot on Boyd’s tail in chase he lost interest in Derek.

            Isaac wasn’t doing any better than Jackson. When they got to the top of the hill he collapsed onto a rock, trying to catch his breath. It took a lot to burn down a werewolf’s stamina, but they’d been running for hours now and the two betas were starting to feel it. Boyd seemed completely unfazed, tearing across the forest like a freight train.

            “We can’t keep this up all night...” Jackson coughed.

            Isaac shrugged breathlessly. “You have a better idea?”

            They both knew he didn’t. With a crash Boyd broke through the tree line below them, and bellowed a full-throated howl.  

            “Do you know how long this is supposed to last?” Jackson asked.

            Isaac shook his head. Derek might have had some idea, but of the three of them he was the only one who still had enough energy to out pace Boyd, leaving him to be the one to run off further ahead. But Boyd didn’t seem to following Derek’s trail this time. Rather than chase after the Alpha, he was circling the small clearing as Jackson and Isaac watched, his nose twitching this way and that.

            Jackson sighed. “That doesn’t look good.”

            “No…” Isaac grit his teeth.

            Suddenly Boyd seemed to make a decision. His eyes flashed brighter, and he took off further into the woods-only in a different direction from Derek…

            “Shit!” Jackson cursed. He scrambled back to his feet Isaac right behind him. “Where’s he going?”

            “I don’t know…” Isaac was already running after him. Jackson forced himself to do the same, hoping Boyd had just scented out a deer or some other animal. Jackson wasn’t getting anything yet, but with Boyd’s senses being enhanced after months with no moonlight, that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

            But then Jackson heard it-two human heartbeats. Maybe a half mile away… more campers probably. “We’re going to need Derek…”

            Isaac nodded. “So call him.”

            “Cell reception in the preserve is crap.”

            “Not what I meant…” Isaac actually managed a small smile, even as he forced himself to run faster after Boyd. He took as deep a breath as he could manage and threw his head back, letting a piercing howl out into the night.

            Derek’s response came a few moments later, but from farther away then Jackson would have liked. By then he could already see the campers’ tent up ahead. Jackson only saw one person inside the tent though- there was no sign of the second camper. Boyd had stopped in the middle of the small clearing, advancing slowly on the tent.

            “Emily?” The zipper of the tent began to move, the flap swinging open and a girl rushing out. “Emily is that you-“ The girl froze when she caught sight of Boyd.

            Boyd growled and surged towards her. Isaac jumped forward latching onto Boyd’s shoulders, and tried to pull him back. Boyd threw Isaac off, sending him flying away into a tree with barley a glance. Jackson growled and swiped at Boyd’s legs, trying to knock the larger Beta off balance. Boyd stumbled for just a second, before picking Jackson up bodily and tossing him aside as well. For all the effort Boyd made Jackson might as well have been a ragdoll.

            Jackson groaned and struggled to find his feet. He couldn’t see Isaac anywhere. And Boyd was almost to the girl now…

            With a ferocious roar Derek burst out of the woods, landing squarely between Boyd and the girl. His eyes burned the pure red of his Alpha status. Even in a moonlight fugue state it seemed certain instincts ran deep-Boyd took one look at Derek and bolted out of the clearing, running back deeper into the woods.

            “Wha-what’s happening…?” The girl was staring at them all in shock. As Jackson watched she scrambled back to her tent sealing herself inside, for what little protection it would actually give her against a werewolf. Jackson’s shoulder gave a twinge of pain from where he’d landed on it. He looked back and found part of a stick embedded in the muscle. He pulled it out with a grimace, the flesh slowly healing itself.

            Isaac came stumbling out of the trees a moment later. He had some dirt left on one side of his face, but was other wise completely healed. Derek helped him brush a few leaves off his back.

            “You okay?”

            Isaac nodded slowly. “Yeah…”

            Derek didn’t say anything to him, but Jackson saw Derek give him a quick once over too. Jackson almost sighed. It figured things would still be a little awkward between them.

            “What now?” Isaac asked.

            “We’ll have to find him again.” Derek said it with a confidence none of them really seemed to feel. “Maybe-“

            “There you all are…”

            All three of them whirled around to find Peter slinking out of the shadows. Derek frowned. “I didn’t hear you coming…”

            “You were all focused on more pressing issues… “ Peter smiled. “Boyd ran off again I take it?”

            Derek’s expression darkened. “Why are you here?”

            “Scott’s been trying to call you for the last hour.”

            Isaac perked up a little. “Did he find Erica?”

            “She’s dead…” Peter said slowly. “They killed her…”

            Derek punched a tree, his fist sailing clean through the trunk and spraying wood splinters everywhere. It took him a moment to get his breathing back under control. Isaac just looked lost…

            “Why are they doing this?” Jackson finally asked. “With could they possibly get out of it?”

            “With Boyd?” Peter smiled sardonically. “Isn’t it obvious? They want Derek to kill him.”

            Jackson frowned. Derek shot Peter a similarly confused look.

            “What are you talking about?” Derek growled.

            “How do you think they’re able to all stay Alphas in one pack like that?” Peter mimed cutting someone’s throat. “They kill all their betas. Take the power back for themselves…

            Isaac eyed Peter nervously. “Then-then they’re doing all this-

            Peter smiled darkly. “-because they want Derek to join.”

***

            Lydia crawled out of bed and fumbled for the bottle of painkillers on her bedside table. Her head was killing her, the memories of her own screaming and a half remembered dream boring into her skull. Lydia’s hand hit the bottle and it bounced onto the floor with a hollow rattle. Empty. She groaned. Eyes half-closed Lydia stumbled over to her closet. There was no way she was suffering this headache a second longer than she had to, and if she was going out to get more painkillers Lydia Martin had to look respectable. Lydia shuffled through a few outfits. Sometimes being glamorous was an unbelievable burden…

            The nearest pharmacy was thankfully only about a five-minute drive from her house. Lydia made the trip on autopilot, barely aware of the cars and traffic around her. She pulled into the first empty spot in the lot. Lydia sighed and checked her phone-no word from any of the others on what might be happening.

            Lydia stepped outside and was suddenly at the pool. She froze, nearly dropping her phone. There was a thin layer of mist rolling off the water, but there was no mistaking where she was. Not the drug store. She took a slow, deep breath, fighting to keep her nerves in check. Lydia was about to turn back to her car when a sound came from the pool.

            “Hello?”

            No answer.

            Cursing under breath Lydia took a cautious step forward, past the half fence surrounding the pool. Something was in the water. She could see it now that she was closer, the mist breaking up a little. It looked like a person.

            “Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead…” Lydia whispered it like a mantra. Holding her breath she leaned down closer to the pool for a better look, her fingers curling tight around the concrete edge.

            It was one of the inflatable dummies they used for lifeguard training. It floated closer as Lydia watched, making small waves on the water’s surface as the wind blew it around.

            “Oh thank god-“ Lydia heaved a sigh of relief. She stood up slowly, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

            Her hands came away red.

            A thin layer of blood coated the concrete. Her hands shaking Lydia turned tracing the small puddle back to its source. He was in the lifeguard chair. From the looks of it he could have been Lydia’s age or a few years older- when he was still alive. His eyes were open in a frozen expression of horror, and his body and the chair beneath him was stained red with his blood.

            Lydia screamed. She couldn’t help it.

***

            “We need a plan…” Jackson panted. Boyd was on the move again, and they couldn’t afford to not stay on him. Jackson glanced over to Isaac, hoping for some kind of back up, but the other beta was focused entirely on Derek. “Derek-“

            “I know.” Derek grumbled. It was just the three of them again. Peter had left after giving them Scott’s message, off to parts unknown. Peter had claimed he still just wasn’t up to a fight or a long chase through the woods, but really Jackson felt pretty sure he just didn’t want to put himself in the potential cross hairs.

            Derek fell silent again. Jackson hoped he was just mulling something over, and not falling into one of his trademark angry sulks. Jackson was upset about Erica’s death too, but getting the rest of them killed by fumbling this whole Boyd situation wouldn’t make things any better.

            The three of them crashed through the tree line into a small clearing, and Derek threw up his hand for them to stop. Boyd was hunched over a narrow stream getting a drink. Jackson cringed a little when he saw it. The water was murky and filled with who knew what. Jackson supposed it was lucky Boyd’s healing was supercharged right now…

            “…we can corral him.”

            Jackson frowned. “What?”

            Derek glared at him. “Boyd. We can trap him at my old house…”

            “How exactly are we going to do that?” Jackson asked skeptically. “The whole place is a burned out wreak. No offense…” Jackson hastily added seeing Derek’s expression darken again.

            “There are some old tunnels and rooms underneath the house…” Isaac offered quietly. “We could probably hold him in one of those-at least until morning.”

            Derek nodded. “We’ll need to lead him there-“

            Boyd’s head suddenly snapped up. He growled ominously.

            Derek pushed Jackson and Isaac down out of sight. Boyd had to know they were there anyways, but Derek didn’t want Boyd focusing in on them all the same. Boyd stood up slowly growling louder. But he was facing away from them…

            “What’s he-“

            Derek shushed Jackson, slapping his hand over Jackson’s mouth. As they watched Boyd howled furiously, and took off running-the opposite way of the Hale house if Jackson’s internal map of the preserve was accurate.

            Jackson swore. “Well so much for that idea…”

            “What do you think has him so keyed up?” Isaac asked.

            Derek just shook his head. “I don’t know. But I don’t like it.”

            “What’s even over there anyways?” Jackson frowned trying to picture it. “Houses?”

            “Only one place over that way buts up against the preserve-“ Isaac said slowly. “-our school.”

***

            Stiles hopped out of his jeep and jogged urgently over to where Lydia was huddled up, right by the gate to the pool. Lydia had her arms wrapped around her chest, hugging herself, likely as much from the shock as from the relatively cool night.

            “You okay?” Stiles asked.

            Lydia nodded. “He’s just-in there…” She pointed vaguely back towards the pool.

            Stiles stepped through the gate cautiously, and immediately picked out the body. The lifeguard stand was a mess of blood. Stiles sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Okay-yeah okay… I’ll call my dad and he’ll get the sheriff’s department over hear to take care of everything…”

            “I already called them.” Lydia seemed to be pointedly avoiding looking at the body.

            “What?” Stiles gaped at her. “You called the police before you called me?”

            Lydia stared at him blankly. “I’m supposed to call you whenever I discover a dead body?”

            “YES!” Stiles shouted. He groaned. “What if this has something to do with the Alphas and those weird animal attacks huh? What are my dad and the rest of his department supposed to do then?”

            “Look at the body…” Lydia shuddered a little. “Those wounds don’t look like an animal…”

            Neither of them were exactly professional investigators, but they were quickly racking up plenty of hours as amateurs. Stiles leaned in a little closer to the body and tried not to gag. The poor guy was a mess, but on the surface at least Stiles had to agree with Lydia-it didn’t look like a wolf attack. Which raised the question of what did do this. Some other creature? An average run of the mill killer? Stiles wasn’t sure if those options were any better. Stiles flicked on the flashlight from his phone trying to get a better look. Lydia paled a little and turned away to face the pool.

            Even with the light it was hard to make much out through all the blood, but there was no way Stiles was going to risk touching the body. He didn’t want to interfere anymore than he had too. A glint of metal caught the light from Stiles’ phone, and he bent down closer to the victim’s hand to take a look.

            “He’s got some kind of ring on here or something…” Stiles craned his neck trying to make out the markings on it. “I think- I think it’s one of those purity rings…”

            “And that’s important?” Lydia’s voice was muffled slightly, her eyes still locked firmly on the pool.

            “I don’t know…” The ring had caught his attention, and seemed to tug at some distant thought of Stiles’, like a half remembered idea… “Maybe…”

            Lydia shivered. “Why isn’t the Sheriff here yet? I called them over half an hour ago…”

            Stiles grimaced. He took one last look at the body before turning around and walking closer to Lydia. He smiled sympathetically. “Busy night tonight…”

***

            “Okay…” Sheriff Stilinski sighed, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Give it to me one more time…”

            The girl in front of him-Caitlin she had said her name was- shifted nervously. “Emily-“

            “She’s your girlfriend?” The Sheriff asked.

            Caitlin nodded. “We came up here together for- it was going to be her first time…”

            The Sheriff sighed again. Two teenagers in love trying to sneak out for a romantic getaway. In any other town, the most they might have had to worry about was people gossiping. Not in Beacon Hills though. Times like this the Sheriff felt he really wasn’t paid enough. “And then what happened?”

            “Emily started freaking out-saying she was seeing things. She got scared I guess and ran out of the tent. I tried to find her but I couldn’t. I thought maybe I heard her but…” Caitlin trailed off quietly.

            “But that’s when you saw the monsters with the glowing eyes?” The Sheriff prompted her. “And the fangs and claws?”

            Caitlin nodded.

            “Okay…” The Sheriff put away the small notepad he’d been writing on. “Now I need to know Caitlin-I promise you won’t get in any trouble- but I need to know if you or Emily took anything. Coming up here alone for a special night…”

            Caitlin bit her lip. “We-we split a tablet of ecstasy…”

            “Alright…” The Sheriff clasped her on the shoulder. “It’s going to be fine. You just wait over there and we’ll get somebody to take you home as soon as we can okay?”

            Caitlin nodded meekly.

            “Sheriff?” Deputy Graeme eyed him skeptically. “You really think that girl saw what she said?”

            “I don’t know what she saw Tara.” The Sheriff glanced over his shoulder once at Caitlin. It was clear something had shaken her up. “Those drugs can cause hallucinations but I think she saw _something_. I’m just not sure what.”

            “And we’ve still got a missing girl…” Tara added.

            The Sheriff nodded. “Get deputies combing through the woods. I don’t want this girl out there on her own if she’s not in her right mind. Especially if there really is something else out here…”

            “Something sir?”

            The Sheriff shrugged. “Or someone…”

            Tara nodded. “I’ll get those units set up to canvas sir…”

***

            “Isaac…”

            “Isaac!”

            Isaac jumped up with a start. He’d been-well not sleeping exactly, not with his eyes open- but it felt like it. It took him a moment to remember where he was. Isaac and Derek were on the side of the road making their way steadily closer to the school. Boyd was still somewhere deeper in the woods, but Derek could track him from here, and the less resistance Isaac and Derek encountered by the road let them get ahead of Boyd a bit. Jackson had doubled back to get his car, he had to pick something else up before meeting them at the school.

            “Sorry.” Isaac said finally. “What’s up?”

            “You okay?” Derek was watching Isaac carefully.

            “Yeah…” Isaac tried to shake himself out of his stupor. Memories seemed to rattle up out of his subconscious entirely unbidden. Erica… the Alphas… even his dad… Isaac shuddered.

            Derek frowned. “…We’ll get Boyd back. As soon as the sun comes up he’ll be back to normal…”

            “I know.” Derek was leaving out several steps along the way and they both knew that too.

            “And we’ll avenge Erica…” Derek added gruffly. “I promise I’ll make them pay…”

            Isaac just nodded. On some level he guess he appreciated the sentiment, but Erica was still gone. All because of the Alphas… images flashed across Isaac’s vision-the bank, rain… burning red eyes…

            “You sure you’re okay?” Derek asked.

            “Just tired I guess…” Isaac said quietly. “It’s been a long couple of days…”

            “It’s been a long few months…” Derek grumbled. Derek had fallen in step with Isaac. With a tentativeness at odds with almost everything Isaac knew about the man, Derek reached out an arm towards Isaac’s shoulder. Derek caught Isaac’s eye, watchful for any kind of reaction, and then gave Isaac’s shoulder the gentlest of squeezes. Physical affection was something of a minefield for both of them, but the simple gesture sparked a small ember of warmth in Isaac’s chest he hadn’t felt in quite awhile. Isaac had people who cared about him again. Even if it came with werewolves, killer lizards, and the occasional attack by hunters, Isaac was happy to take it.

            Derek coughed awkwardly. “C’mon… we should pick up our pace some more. Have to make sure we get to the school before Boyd does…”

            And with that Derek started running again. Isaac took a deep breath to steady himself, and then took off after him. Following his Alpha…

***

            Jackson still wasn’t sure how he’d been the one to wind up going back to the cars, but he wasn’t complaining if it meant he didn’t have to run all the way to the school. Even if it did make him responsible for other things… Jackson spared a glance away from the road and into the back seat of the car. It was still just a rental for now, and not quite up to Jackson’s usual standards, but his parents hadn’t finalized all the paper work to get Jackson’s Porsche back stateside yet. “You sure you know how to work those?”

            “I think so…” Scott was messing with some kind of sonic emitter he’d had waiting with him when Jackson picked him up. Jackson had taken one look at Scott’s face and known not to ask, but looking at it there were only two people in town Scott could have gotten that kind of tech from. Jackson wasn’t sure which of the Argents would have made for a more awkward encounter with Scott at this point. “I think you just push this-“

            A shrill noise blasted from the backseat, like a dog whistle on steroids.

            “God-“ Jackson clenched his teeth. “Turn it off! Or at least point it somewhere else…”

            The noise died with a muffled whine.

            “Sorry.” Scott cringed. “Didn’t mean to project it that way…”

            “Yeah…” Jackson eyed the strange little silver wand with a newfound respect. “How many of those things did they give you?”

            “Four of them.” Scott set the one he was holding aside carefully. “I guess we can use them to try and create a perimeter or something…”

            Jackson nodded. “Keep Boyd from running away from the school…”

            “Why is he going there in the first place do you think?” Scott asked.

            “I don’t know.” Jackson took a turn and saw the lights of the school parking lot peeking out up ahead. “Maybe it’s instinctive-like some part of him still recognizes it under all that…” Jackson shrugged. “It’s as good of place as any to try and contain him…”

            Scott hummed thoughtfully. “Yeah I guess…”

            Jackson pulled into a parking spot as near to the road as he could get. He didn’t know if seeing a car would throw Boyd off in his moon madness, but Jackson didn’t really want to find out. This way they should have a better chance at going unseen. They’d lucked out in a way too, since the school might reasonably help hide their scents. All of the pack came here on a regular bases so Boyd might not find it weird to smell some of them here now. Jackson hopped out of the car and listened for a moment. There was no sign of Boyd yet, and it seemed like Jackson and Scott had beaten Isaac and Derek here too. But there was something else… another heartbeat. It took Jackson a second to figure out where it was coming from, and when he did he swore loudly.

            Scott’s brow furrowed. “What?”

            “Someone else is here.” Jackson groaned.

            “This late on a school night?” Scott frowned. “Why?”

            “Pretty sure I know why…” Jackson sighed. “Damn it- just work on getting the emitters set up. I’ll try and get rid of him…”

            “Him?”

            Jackson ignored Scott, walking up the rest of the school’s long driveway and towards the student parking lot. Ethan was right where Jackson expected him to be, laying on his back on the blacktop and working on some part of his motorcycle. In spite of the slight chill of the fall night, Ethan had taken off his leather jacket and hung it from the bike’s handlebars. The white t-shirt he’d been wearing underneath was smudged black in a few places, streaked with what looked to be engine grease. Jackson coughed to get his attention.

            “Ethan…”

            Ethan’s head lifted up in surprise. “Oh hey… “

            “What are you doing here?” Jackson asked.

            “Uh-“ Ethan gave him a confused smile. “Fixing my bike?”

            “Right…” Jackson ran a hand through his hair. Boyd was getting closer every second. “I can see that… I meant more why are you here _now_ …”

            “Why not?” Ethan shrugged and turned back to his motorcycle. He picked up a wrench and set to tightening a piece back into place. “Aiden had somewhere to be, so I asked him drop me off with the parts I needed. I’ll just ride home when I’m done…” Ethan frowned and looked back to Jackson curiously. “Why are you here?”

            “Oh… uh-“ Jackson fumbled for an excuse. “Getting some late night running in for cross country. Coach makes all the lacrosse players sign up.”

            Ethan laughed. “Is that really a thing?”

            “What cross country?” Jackson smirked. “Our team kicks ass. You should join if you’re interested.”

            “Maybe I will.” Ethan grinned and tossed the wrench back into the small toolbox next to him. “But I meant the night running… the coach really makes you do that?

            “Oh- no not really. But some of the meets can run longer and the sun starts to set, and I- uh I like to practice in all sorts of conditions.” Jackson finished lamely. He hoped that sounded at least somewhat plausible.

            “Uh-huh…” Ethan smiled.

            A howl snapped Jackson back to the present. _Boyd_. Jackson bit his lip trying to think of something that might let him get Ethan out of here before things got crazy…

            Ethan frowned; looking off in the direction the noise had come from. “What was that?”

            Jackson tried to force an easy smile. He could hear Isaac and Derek talking to Scott now, and just hoped they wouldn’t do anything quite yet. “Probably a dog or something… maybe a coyote… there are a few of those around I think…”

            “Right…” Ethan seemed skeptical still, but Jackson didn’t have time to worry about that right now.

            “Listen-uh- have you had dinner yet?” Jackson asked.

            “Dinner…” Ethan hopped up from the ground, dusting his hands off and apparently satisfied with whatever it was he’d been fixing. He eyed Jackson hesitantly. “As in-“

            “As in dinner.” Jackson dug his hands into his pockets and rocked onto his heels nervously. This was stupid. Why was he nervous? He was just trying to get Ethan away from the school before Boyd showed up on some semi murderous rampage. Jackson didn’t have any ulterior motives here- and he’d made that perfectly clear to Ethan. So then why-

            Ethan shrugged. “I could eat.”

            “Great.“ Jackson grabbed his keys and nodded to his car. “Let’s go.”

            Ethan took his jacket off the handlebars of his motorcycle. He looked down at the grease stains on his shirt and laughed. “I should probably change first…”

            “Please…” Jackson snorted. “Like anybody is going to be looking at your shirt when you have your arms out like that…” Ethan’s biceps looked like they were threatening to burst through his short sleeves at any second. Jackson had watched lacrosse players’ girlfriends fawn over their arms for years- and not many of his teammates could boast muscles as nice as Ethan’s…

            Ethan gave Jackson an odd look, eyebrows raised, as Jackson tried to hurriedly direct him to Jackson’s car.

            “What?” Jackson smirked. “I said wasn’t interested not that I was blind…”

            Ethan smiled and climbed into the passenger seat.  

***

            Derek watched Jackson pull away from the school, and not a minute too soon. Boyd would be here any second, and the last thing Derek needed was a civilian to get in the way. Derek, Scott, and Isaac were all huddled together down by the school’s entrance sign. Boyd would still be able to pick them out if he really wanted too, but if the plan worked they would only need a few seconds. They’d set up the emitters Scott had brought from the Argents in a tight circle around the school. Once Boyd stepped inside it they should be able to turn them all on and force Boyd into the actual building. Then Derek could go in and try and lock him up somewhere safe until morning-the boiler room sounded promising. Derek nodded to Scott. “Get ready…”

            Boyd exploded out of the woods full sprint, his eyes wide and golden in the moonlight. He roared loudly.

            Isaac laughed nervously. “Guess he isn’t tired yet…”

            Boyd was wandering around the school’s lot now, an almost confused expression on his face. He just needed to get a little closer… Boyd crossed the invisible line the emitters would make, growling low in his throat.

            “Now Scott!”

            Scott flipped the switch and all four of the emitters powered up, loosing high frequency sonic waves at everything inside the small grid. Derek grimaced. Even with the emitters specially calibrated, and being outside of the main area of their effect, the noise was unpleasant. Boyd howled in pain, and made to turn away, but heading back to the woods would mean having to get closer to one of the emitters. Instead he opted to run inwards, toward the relative shelter of the school, just like Derek had been hoping he would. Now came the harder part…

            “Alright…” Derek stood up slowly. “I’m going in. Scott don’t turn the emitters off until I come back out. Worst case, if I can’t get him secured safely in a room, we can try and at least keep him in the school itself until morning…”

            “You’re sure you want to do this alone?” Scott asked for probably the third time.

            Derek nodded. “I can take most of what Boyd will dish out like this. You two can’t…” Neither Scott, nor Isaac were practically happy about it, but Derek hoped they’d still stick to the plan. The last thing he wanted was more people getting hurt…

            Without giving himself another second to second guess things, Derek ran out from behind the sign and towards the school. He knew the minute he crossed the line of emitters, the shrill whine becoming an excruciating shriek. Derek found the door Boyd had forced open-more torn off its hinges really-and raced inside.

            The blare of the emitters was less painful from within the walls of the school, but it was still a dull ache in the back of Derek’s ears. The hallway Derek found himself in was dark, save for the small sliver of light from the door behind him. Derek’s eyes blazed to life, the red Alpha glow letting him see without any issue. Boyd looked to be heading deeper into the school… Derek sprinted after him.

            Boyd was just around the corner from Derek when he felt it- something was off. A shadow on the wall seemed to almost move. Derek heard Boyd snarl in surprise, and then a flash of light flared around the corner. Derek burst into the next hallway in under a second flat, unsure just what he was going to find, but ready for a fight.

            But it was already over. Boyd lay flat on his back unconscious, his claws and fangs gone. Besides Boyd, the hallway was completely empty. The only other movement came from a pair of fireflies, their lights flashing like a slow pulse.

            Derek growled anxiously, and bent down to check on Boyd. He seemed completely unharmed. Derek could hear the steady rhythm of Boyd’s heart, but the rest of the school was eerily silent. Sniffing something out would be almost impossible, the school was bathed in hundreds of scents, and enough body spray and sweat to make sure Derek never missed high school. Derek concentrated for a moment and his vision flicked over to thermal. Still nothing- no one was in the hall except Boyd and Derek.

            A faint, already fading glow caught his eye. Derek stepped carefully around Boyd. There on the ground in front of him was the outline of a hand, the cool tile of the floor already leeching the heat away.

            Someone one else had been in the hallway…

***

            “Do you have idea how much longer this is going to take?” Lydia asked. “Believe it or not I have other things I’d rather be doing…”

            The nurse behind the counter glared at Lydia. “As I said- as soon as the sheriff deputies have finished speaking with the coroner they’ll want to take your full statement.

            Lydia rolled her eyes. “We already told them-“

            “It’s just in case they have any other questions Lydia.” Stiles jumped in, earning him a slightly less annoyed look from the nurse. “Seeing the body might make them think of something else they want to ask you…”

            The nurse forced herself to smile. “It doesn’t mean you’re in trouble or anything like that-“

            “I _know_ that…” Lydia stalked away from the desk in a huff.

            Stiles shrugged, trying to give the nurse his best apologetic smile. He didn’t think it worked. Stiles sighed and jogged a bit to catch up with Lydia. In spite of her outward attitude, Stiles knew she was rattled. Not by being escorted to the hospital when a sheriff’s deputy finally showed up, or even by the questions he’d asked her, but by the fact Lydia still couldn’t explain how she’d found the body-or even how she’d wound up at the pool in the first place. Stiles had convinced her to say she’d just been driving by and thought she’d seen something at the pool. It was close to the truth, and really the best explanation either of them could come up with at the moment.

            “Are you okay?” Stiles asked when he finally caught up to Lydia.

            “I just want to get out of this place and go home.” Lydia said darkly.

            “Yeah I know…” Stiles glanced down the hall where the deputies had disappeared. Stiles was hoping they resurfaced soon too, if only because Melissa McCall had been one of the nurses to go into the morgue, and Stiles was really hoping to get a better idea of what the hell was going on. But so far Stiles and Lydia had just been stuck waiting. You’d think given the amount of traffic the Beacon Hills hospital saw they’d have better things to do while they waited. This particular waiting room had maybe ten chairs total, and magazines that were probably older than Stiles.

            “There you are!”

            Allison was making her way inside, the lobby’s sliding doors squeaked shut behind her and a boy Stiles vaguely noted as a new guy from school… Allen? Aiden? Something like that… one of the twins. Allison pulled Lydia in for a short hug.

            Allison seemed to give Lydia a quick once over. “You’re okay?”

            Lydia nodded. “I just found the body…”

            “Okay…” Allison caught Stiles’ eye over Lydia’s shoulder, and stepped away a bit to talk to him. As Stiles watched, Aiden stepped in to take Allison’s place, offering Lydia a smile, and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

            Lydia smiled. “You didn’t have to come…”

            Aiden grinned. “Of course I did…”

            “-and how exactly did she find it?” Allison whispered to Stiles once they were far enough away to not risk being over heard.

            “Yeah no idea.” Stiles scratched his head thoughtfully. “Lydia called you?”

            “Yeah…”Allison nodded. “You think it’s something supernatural?”

            “I never know with Lydia…” Stiles frowned watching Lydia and Aiden. “Why’d you bring him?”

            “I didn’t.” Allison followed Stiles’ gaze, watching Lydia and Aiden thoughtfully. “I ran into him outside. I guess she must have called him too…”

            Just then the coroner and the one of sheriff’s deputies they’d talked to before rounded the corner. Stiles caught sight of Melissa hanging behind them. She beckoned Stiles over. Stiles nodded. He pointed her out to Allison.

            “I’ve got to go see what’s going on-“ Stiles gestured back towards the deputy. “Can you handle this? They should just be going back over Lydia’s previous statement…”

            Allison nodded. “Sure.”

            Doing his best not to draw any attention to himself, Stiles crept down the hallway towards Melissa. She shushed Stiles before he could say anything, and hurried him into another room. The morgue, he realized, once the door was firmly shut behind him. The body Lydia had found at the pool was lying on one of the slabs, a white sheet covering most of it, but doing nothing to hide the mess that had been made of the face.

            “We have to be quick-“ Melissa said urgently. “I could get in trouble for even showing you this…”

            “I know…” Stiles said seriously. “Thanks…”

            “Okay…” Melissa’s tone became more clinical, shifting to a professional cadence as she turned towards the body. “Well you see this here?” She pointed to the guy’s neck. “He was strangled…”

            “But that doesn’t explain all the blood…”

            Melissa nodded. “Right. But they also cut the throat…” She ran her finger over a second wound under the ligature mark. “And then there’s this…” Melissa turned the victim’s head so Stiles could see better, there was a sizeable dent in the guy’s skull. “Strong blow to the head…”

            Stiles frowned. “So which was the cause of death?”

            “The strangulation probably…any one of one of the three could have been enough but that or the cut throat would be fastest…” Melissa shrugged. “The multiple wounds makes the timing harder to pin down…”

            “Poor guy never stood a chance…” Stiles mused sadly.

            “I know…” Melissa stepped away from the body on the table. “But that’s not the weirdest part Stiles…” She unlocked one of the coolers and rolled another body out. “That’s the second body we’ve gotten with those exact wounds…” Melissa flipped back the sheet and Stiles’ veins turned to ice. “Blow to the head, cut throat, strangulation…” Melissa looked up and caught sight of Stiles’ face. “Sweetie what’s wrong?”

            “That’s-“ Stiles fumbled for the words. “T-that’s…”

            “You knew her-“ Melissa snapped the sheet back into place. “Stiles I’m so sorry I didn’t realize…”

            “That’s Heather…” Stiles finally managed to choke out. “Heather…

***

            The bell on the restaurant’s door chimed behind him, but Jackson didn’t feel the need to look over his shoulder to see who had come in. Honestly, he felt more relaxed sitting here with Ethan than he had at any other point since coming back to Beacon Hills. Jackson had known being back in Beacon Hills would dredge up some painful memories, but that hadn’t made it any easier. Not that he didn’t think about what had happened with Kanima at other times too- step one in getting his parents to let him come back to Beacon Hills had been training himself to not wake up screaming, no matter how bad the nightmares got. In some of his darker moments Jackson had thought about just giving in to what his parents wanted. He could have stayed safe in London. Found a councilor or someone who he could tell a very watered down version of things too… but the guilt always came back stronger than ever.

            Jackson knew he hadn’t exactly been the most selfless person… in a way all the horror that had happened sprang from his greediness to get the bite-to be the best. And yet when things had gotten to be their worst Scott and the others had still tried to help him. Jackson couldn’t stay in London knowing his friends were still in Beacon Hills dealing with whatever supernatural horror decided to rear its head next. He’d hoped maybe-on some naive level- that there would be no next threat, that things might finally go back to normal. But even before Jackson and his parents had left there had been rumblings from the Alpha pack. Derek’s door, Erica and Boyd disappearing… Jackson couldn’t sit that out an ocean away.

            So he’d come back. Jackson had worked on his parents all summer and finally convinced them to let him come back to Beacon Hills. To keep going to school with his friends. He promised them he was fine, and that he’d call them as often as they liked. Jackson’s parents had debated about following him back, but he knew they wouldn’t. The other Whittemores at least, had had enough of Beacon Hills.

            But there almost seemed like there were two Jacksons now, the one he was and the one everyone remembered. The vast majority of the town had no idea he’d been the Kanima-no idea what he’d been made to do. They looked at Jackson and still saw him as the golden boy. Jackson supposed that’s what he should have wanted, but the praise, the awe or whatever else people had felt for him just felt wrong now. Unearned. He may not have been in control as the Kanima, but he’d made the choices that led him to become it. Jackson was going to do better- going to _be_ better. Scott and the others seemed to understand to a point, but they almost pitied him, which was worse. Jackson didn’t want to be coddled-to be treated with kid gloves…he’d come back to help and he was going to do it. All of which made being around Ethan surprisingly nice.

            Ethan didn’t know Jackson- the new or the old. He didn’t have any ideas about who Jackson was or wasn’t. He was learning and discovering who Jackson was now right along with him. It was like a breath of air. Somehow being out to dinner with this guy felt like the most natural thing in the world-easy in a way nothing else was right now. Jackson smiled, not that he’d ever tell his friends or Ethan that.

            “-anyway that’s why I have to go pie over cake-if it really came down to it.“ Ethan laughed. “But both are solid options…” he noticed Jackson’s smile and trailed off. “What?”

            “Nothing.” Jackson laughed. “I just didn’t expect you to be so passionate about dessert.”

            Ethan took another forkful of his cherry pie and popped it into his mouth. “When you don’t have it for awhile you learn not to take it for granted…”

            Jackson frowned a little, and was about to ask Ethan what he meant by that, when the waitress came by to drop off their check. Jackson reached to grab it. “I’ve got this…”

            “Nope-“ Ethan’s hand beat Jackson to it, slipping past his and flipping the check over so he could read the total. “-I’m paying for my half.”

            “You really don’t have to.” Jackson fished out his wallet. One thing that hadn’t changed was the hefty bank account his parents had set up for him.

            Ethan shook his head. “Like you said, this wasn’t a date… I can pay for my own food…”

            “Right…” Jackson watched Ethan calculate how much they each owed, a small knot he couldn’t quite wrap his head around forming in the pit of his stomach. They each counted out the bills they needed, and Jackson made sure to slip in a nice tip for the waitress too. Ethan lead the way out of the booth and outside, where he had to pause for a minute so Jackson could unlock the car.

            Ethan eyed Jackson curiously. “You okay?”

            Jackson pulled his car door shut, and didn’t say anything for a minute. Why had what Ethan said bothered him? Jackson had made a point of telling Ethan repeatedly he wasn’t interested in guys… so why had Ethan acknowledging the same fact gotten any kind of reaction from Jackson at all? Jackson had never ever looked at guys that way... Okay so maybe that part wasn’t _entirely_ true. Jackson had scooped out some of his teammates growing up in the lockers rooms out of pure curiosity, comparing himself to some of the other guys here and there, but that wasn’t really the same thing was it?

            “Jackson?”

            Jackson turned to face Ethan, taking in the mild concern on the other’s face. It was a good face, Jackson thought. Strong, but with those soft chocolate brown eyes… and his arms… Jackson almost laughed. He’d said he wasn’t blind, but Jackson had definitely been looking too… Jackson leaned forward just a little, his mind racing. Would it be so crazy? Jackson needed a fresh start. He wanted one desperately, and here was a nice guy who liked Jackson. So what if Jackson had only ever dated girls before? He’d never been one to shy away from something new just because it was different…maybe it was time to bring a little of that back…

            Ethan frowned. “Ja-“

            Jackson cut him off with a kiss. Nothing too dramatic, it was almost chaste even, just lips brushing lips, but Jackson could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He pulled back slowly, watching Ethan nervously for any kind of a reaction.

            Ethan slowly smiled. “I thought you said weren’t interested in guys…”

            Jackson shrugged, feeling his cheeks heating up a bit. “I might need to reevaluate that a little…

            Ethan’s smile widened. “I think I can help with that…”

            And then they were kissing again, only this time it was Ethan who initiated. When they broke away to catch their breath Jackson was grinning. Yeah he was _definitely_ revaluating that…

***

            Stiles paced the hospital hallway anxiously, his phone pressed flush to his ear. It was still ringing. “C’mon Scott…”

            Finally Stiles heard the click of the phone being picked up. “Scott listen-“

            “Stiles? Are you okay? What’s going on?”

            “I’m fine-“ Stiles sighed. He was physically at least. “Listen Scott, Lydia found a dead body-“

            “What?” Scott asked anxiously. “You don’t think Boyd-“

            “No, no it doesn’t look like anything werewolf related…” Stiles ran a hand across his face. God it had been a long night… “It was brutal though Scott. The guy was bludgeoned, had his throat cut, and strangled…”

            “Jezz…”

            “I know…” Stiles leaned back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor. “Scott they found Heather’s body. She’s dead… the exact same way…”

            “Stiles…” Scott paused at a loss for words. “Stiles I’m so sorry… Are you sure you’re okay? Where are you?”

            “Still at the hospital.” Stiles sniffed. “They’re uh-they’re still finishing up taking Lydia’s statement…”

            “Do you want me to come over there?”

            “No-stay and help Derek with Boyd. I’ll be fine.”

            “Boyd’s handled for now.” Scott sighed. “Derek found him passed out when he finally caught up to him inside the school…”

            “What?” Stiles frowned. “How did that happen?”

            “I don’t know. All Derek saw was some fireflies flashing but he swears someone else was there…” Scott said skeptically.

            “Fireflies?” Stiles jumped up off the floor. “Scott, California fireflies aren’t bioluminescent.”

            “Huh?”

            “They don’t glow Scott!” Stiles was pacing again, filled with anxious energy. “California fireflies don’t glow. It’s more weird animal behavior… “

            “Are you sure you’re okay?” Scott asked. “You sound-“

            “I just feel like I’m missing something.” Stiles wracked his brain. “Like it’s right in front of me…”

            The hospital doors chimed open, and as Stiles watched his dad and Tara wheeled a body in. They spoke for a second with the nurses and then pushed the body back towards the morgue. Stiles spotted Allison standing by the nurses’ station and rushed over to her.

            “Allison-“ Stiles whispered furiously. “Allison did you hear them say anything about that body? The nurse or my dad-”

            “It sounded awful…” Allison folded her arms across her chest and shivered. “I guess they found her up in the woods. She and her girlfriend had gone up their for their first time…”

            Something clicked in Stiles’ head, like a final puzzle piece falling into place, the picture finally coming into focus. Heather, the boy’s purity ring… and now this… Stiles froze, his phone still pressed to his ear.

            “It’s a three-fold death…”

            “What is?” Scott’s voice sounded suddenly distant though the phone. “Stiles what are you talking about?”

            “They were all virgins Scott. Heather and the guy from the pool, now this third girl…” Stiles mind was racing forward with the possibilities, none of them good. “Scott they’re human sacrifices…”

            “Sacrifices for what?” Allison asked urgently.

            Stiles shook his head. “I have no idea…”

 


	4. Unleashed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took longer-April was pretty crazy for me but I'm hoping to get back to regular monthly updates for this now.

            Isaac didn’t know where he was. Thunder crashed outside and flashes of lightning snaked across his vision, but everything else was dark. Too dark. Isaac frowned. It didn’t make any sense. He’d been in his bed at Derek’s, how-

            The noise suddenly faded away and Isaac took a cautious step forward-right into a wall. No not a wall- Isaac pushed his hand against the cold metal, his heart racing- a lid. _The freezer. He was in the freezer again._ Isaac could feel himself starting to panic. _What was happening? How was he here?_ He took a deep breath fighting desperately to stay in control. He was stronger now. Isaac felt his eyes shift as he called up his wolf. Isaac wasn’t helpless anymore.

            He punched out as hard as he could and the freezer lid broke off with a snap. Isaac scrambled out, taking stock of his surroundings. He couldn’t recognize anything at first-but then he heard a distant laugh. And that smell…

            Isaac growled. _The Alphas_. One of them was here…

            Isaac raced forward, chasing after them. He nearly collided into a staircase before he slowed down enough to climb it, taking the stairs two at a time. Kali was at the top of the stairs, lounging in front of a window. Isaac growled again.

            “There he is.” Kali laughed. “So brave…” She grinned wickedly. “Did you not like my little trick?”

            This was the woman who had helped kidnap Isaac. Who had held Jackson and Boyd- killed Erica- Isaac charged. His claws and fangs were out and ready. Kali didn’t even move…

            “Isaac?”

            Isaac landed on top of her, tearing in with his claws. He had to stop her. Had to protect Derek and his pack. Had to make Kali pay-

            “Isaac!”

            Something was wrong. Kali wasn’t even reacting-that same evil smile on her lips. She started to laugh again but no sound came out…

            A fierce roar pierced Isaac’s ears. He stumbled back, tripping over the edge of a mattress as the room swam back into focus. Isaac gasped. Kali was gone. Isaac was still in Derek’s apartment, his claws dripping blood. Derek was standing up in his bed, the shallow cuts across his chest already healing. He gave Isaac a worried look.

            “Are you alright?”

            “Your chest-“ Derek’s shirt was completely ruined. The sheets were pretty bloody too. Isaac shivered. It had been worse than he thought… Isaac’s reflection in the window behind Derek caught his attention and he froze.

            His eyes were glowing red- not just his irises either-even the usual whites of his eye were exuding a faint red light. It was slowly fading as Isaac watched, but that did nothing to stop the cold dread burrowing into his gut. He’d attacked Derek. He could have _killed_ him… Isaac could feel himself starting to shake. “Wh-what’s happening to me?”

            Derek watched him carefully, concern and something else warring behind his eyes. “I don’t know…”

***

            Scott grabbed another book out of his locker and sighed. They had a quiz in science today he felt woefully under prepared for. So much for trying to keep his good momentum going… Scott grimaced. He wasn’t going to do himself any favors with that attitude. Maybe he could convince Stiles to meet up in the library before lunch and get in some last minute studying…

            “Hey uh-Scott yeah?”

            A senior Scott vaguely recognized was coming over to him. He closed his locker. “Yeah. You’re uh-“ Scott realized he didn’t actually know the guy’s name…

            The senior smiled. “Kyle.”

            “Right.” Scott smiled back. “Sorry.”

            “You work with Deaton right?”

            Scott nodded.

            “Great. Listen I was wondering is there any chance you think I could get Bullet in to see him sometime after school? He wasn’t feeling too well this morning.”

            “Bullet…” The name sounded familiar but Scott had to think for a second.

            “My dog.” Kyle smiled wider. “Or one of them at least. Military family so they all have names like that.”

            “Oh right-“ Scott remembered the little dog now. “-and yeah I’m heading there after school. I can let Deaton know you’re stopping by. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

            “Thanks!” Kyle clapped Scott on the shoulder and jogged down the hall to catch up with a girl who seemed to be waiting for him.

            “What was that about?” Stiles gave Scott a curious look as watched Kyle leaving.

            “Vet stuff.” Scott said simply. “Listen can you help me study for Mr. Harris’ quiz later? I really want to do well on it.”

            Stiles grinned. “I don’t think we need to worry about that.”

            “He hates us.” Scott frowned. “And I still feel a little iffy on the chapter as it is.”

            “Then today just might be you lucky day.” Stiles leaned in a little closer. “I heard Miss Blake saying Mr. Harris wasn’t feeling well and left after first period. They had to get a sub.”

            Scott didn’t really want to wish ill on Mr. Harris, but the man did seem to have it out for Scott and Stiles. “The sub will probably still give us the quiz…”

            “Yeah but if she grades them instead of Harris that can only be good for us!”

            Scott laughed. “I should probably still study. Meet me in the library later?”

            “Pff-“ Stiles snorted. “Like I would ever let you down.”

            Scott grinned. “So that’s a yes?”

            “Of course that’s a yes.” Stiles slapped Scott’s back and started digging into his own locker. “I’ll bring snacks.”

            “Dude we have lunch like right before then…”

            “Rule one of studying Scott-“ Stiles said seriously. “You can never have enough snacks…” Stiles frowned when he noticed Scott looking over his shoulder. “What?”

            Isaac and Boyd were walking down the hallway together, both finally back in school. Boyd looked perfectly normal, you never would have guessed he’d spent last night running around mad in the woods, or the months before that as an unwilling captive. Scott wasn’t quite sure how Boyd and Derek had explained everything to Boyd’s family, but Scott guessed they wouldn’t question things too much, just being happy to have Boyd back. Isaac on the other looked rough. He looked tired, small bags under his eyes, something Scott didn’t even realize was possible for a werewolf.

            “You okay?” Scott asked.

            Isaac nodded slowly. “Just a rough night.”

            “Nightmares again?” Scot knew Isaac still struggled sometimes with memories of his dad, but before today it had seemed like things were getting better.

            “Something like that.” Isaac shrugged awkwardly.

            Boyd grunted, and Scott caught a flash of something across his face that made Scott thing there was something more too it. Scott opened his mouth to ask when the principle rounded the corner, smiling broadly.

            “Mr. Boyd, Mr. Lahey were so happy to have you back with us.” His smile slipped a little. “I was very sorry to hear about Ms. Reyes. I’ve made sure to have the councilors available if you or any other student should need to talk…”

            “We’re good.” Boyd said shortly.

            “Of course.” The principle nodded sympathetically. “But if you change your mind don’t hesitate-“

            “I need to get to class.” Boyd shouldered past the principle. “I have to pick up my make up work.”

            Isaac trailed after Boyd, giving Scott and Stiles one final little nod as they left. The principle didn’t stay much longer himself, just giving Scott and Stiles a once over before turning back in the direction of his office.

            “What’s up with that do you think?” Stiles asked watching him leave.

            “I don’t know.” Scott sighed. “The principle is kind of the least of my worries right now…”

            Stiles nodded. “Yeah…”

            “Did Isaac look okay to you?”

            Stiles frowned. “What do you mean?”

            “I don’t know.” Scott shook his head. “He just felt off.”

            “Well he did just have to fight off a pack of killer Alphas, spend the night chasing after a moon crazed Boyd-“ Stiles ticked things off on his fingers as he went. “Not to mention Erica…”

            Isaac and Boyd stopped off at Boyd’s locker two hallways over. Neither of them wanted to talk about Erica, and Isaac found himself filling Boyd in more on what had happened last night instead. Isaac couldn’t stop thinking about it. What had made him lose control like that? He shuddered. It had all seemed so real. Derek had tried to brush it off, but Isaac could tell it worried him too.

            Boyd was mostly quiet, just listening to Isaac go through it again, and rummaging around in his locker, stowing away his backpack and cleaning out whatever junk had been left in it at the end of last year. Boyd sighed when he saw Isaac watching him. “You were probably dreaming.” He grumbled.

            Isaac shook his head. “It didn’t feel like that. It felt-I don’t know it felt real…”

            “What did Derek say?”

            “Nothing.” Isaac sighed. “Just maybe that it was some PTSD thing or something from my dad…”

            Boyd shrugged. “Maybe.”

            “Yeah…” Isaac frowned looking for a minute at his reflection in the metal of Boyd’s locker. Everything was normal. No red eyes- real or imagined. “Maybe…”

***

            Danny grinned, his hand held out. “Alright- cough it up. Right now.”

            “What are you talking about?” Jackson climbed out of his Porsche, grateful to finally have the car back. He’d gone to pick Danny up as soon as he’d discovered it in the driveway.

            “Oh you know what I’m talking about.”

            Jackson fought back a smile. “I really don’t…” In truth Jackson could make a pretty good guess.

            “Ethan.” Danny slugged him in the arm playfully. “So nice of you to ‘help me out’ and then wind up making out with him.” Danny laughed.

            “Hey you said you didn’t want my help!” Jackson said. “And it wasn’t making out- it was like two kisses that’s it.”

            “Right.” Danny chuckled. “You really do make it hard to be your friend sometimes. Still I was right and you were wrong. Pay up.”

            “Shut up.” Jackson smirked. “We never bet on it.”

            “You can still afford it. Seriously-“ Danny laughed again. “You have to wind up dating the one new gay guy-“

            “We’re not dating.” Jackson grumbled.

            “No?” Danny gave him a playful shove. “So you just go out to dinner with anybody and wind up kissing them is that it?”

            _Shit._ Jackson’s face fell as reality started to set in. _Was he in a relationship?_

            Danny noticed his expression. “Dude relax- isn’t that what you wanted?”

            “I guess.” Jackson squirmed a little, a wave of panic slowly mounting inside him.

            “What’s the matter?” Danny frowned. “You like Ethan, Ethan likes you- why the face?”

            “What am I’m a going to do for dates?” Jackson asked darkly. “Ethan just moved here he’s not going to have any clue what’s around…”

            “So come up with something yourself.” Danny watched Jackson curiously, still not understanding why he was so worried. “It’s not like you’ve never been in a relationship before.” Danny frowned again. “Are you just nervous cause he’d a guy?”

            “What?” Jackson looked up at Danny in confusion. “No-well I mean maybe a little-but that’s not the point.”

            Danny threw up his hands. “Then you’ve totally lost me.”

            “I was dating _Lydia_ before.” Jackson said it like his point was obvious. He sighed when Danny motioned for him to continue. “ I never had to come up with anything- she just told me what to do and when.” Jackson grimaced. “And it sucked sometimes but at least I had some kind of game plan.”

            Danny grinned and slung his arm around Jackson’s shoulders. “Welcome to the real world of dating where you actually have to talk to the person and think up something to do together.”

            Jackson pulled open the school’s door with a huff. “Easier said than done.”

            Danny laughed and steered Jackson over to one of the bulletin boards, grabbing a flyer off of it to hand to him. “Here.”

            It was a remainder for the fall carnival the school was putting on. Jackson grimaced. “Seriously? What on earth makes you think Ethan would want to go to this?”

            “Trust me-“ Danny said easily. “School events make for simple first dates. Ask like any teen movie.”

            Jackson rolled his eyes. “You know I don’t watch those.”

            “Yet another reason you’re lucky to have me around.” Danny smiled. “It’s easy. They’ll be plenty of stuff to do so you won’t get bored, and lots of other people from school so if things ever get awkward you can just start up a conversation with someone else you know.”

            Jackson frowned, looking down at the cheap flyer again. “You really think this is a good idea?”

            “Just ask him.” Danny squeezed Jackson’s shoulder. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

            “He says no?”

            “That’d be a first for you.” Danny laughed. He ducked the playful jab Jackson threw at him. “Besides from what you said about how your night went I doubt he will.”

            Jackson threw the flyer at Danny’s head, just making him laugh harder.

***

            Jackson didn’t share any classes with Ethan until after lunch. And there was no way Jackson was officially asking Ethan out for the first time in a crowded lunch room. That didn’t stop Jackson from sitting with him, though watching the way Lydia and Aiden were interacting Jackson had a feeling the twins would have wound up sitting at their table even if Jackson and Ethan weren’t slowly becoming something.

            “-so anyway I know lacrosse is supposed to be the big thing around here but it looks like we’re doing cross country in the mean time.” Aiden shrugged. “Not like running can be that hard right?”

            Stiles snorted. “You must not have met Finstock yet.”

            “So you and Ethan are both signing up?” Lydia spun a lock of her hair around one of her fingers in a move Jackson vaguely recognized form when they’d been dating. “I’ll have to come watch your matches…”

            “Yeah we thought it could be fun.” Ethan smiled at Jackson. “Something to get us a little more involved you know…”

            Scott, Stiles, and Isaac slid into seats at the far end of the table. They were talking in hushed voices. Jackson caught something about “last night” but was too busy listening in to Ethan to focus in any more. The rest of the lunch period was a bit of a blur. Jackson just kept going over what he planned to ask Ethan like a mantra in his head. Why was he so nervous?

            When the bell finally rang and everyone started to scramble to get to their next class, Jackson pulled Ethan aside.

            “Hey uh- do you have a minute?”

            Ethan smiled. “Pretty sure I have four right? That’s how long between the bells here?”

            Jackson chuckled. “No- I mean yes that’s how long the bells are, but that’s not what I meant. I uh-I wanted to ask you something…”

            “Oh yeah?” Ethan cocked an eyebrow curiously.

            “The school has this carnival thing they put on every year…” Jackson tried his best to feign nonchalance. “…And I was wondering if maybe you’d want to go-with me.” He shrugged. “It might be lame, I don’t know I haven’t been in a few years…”

            Ethan grinned. “No that sounds fun. It’s a date.”

            “Yeah.” Jackson beamed back at him. “Yeah it is.”

***

            Something was coming.

            Derek could feel it like pressure building in the air. He growled low in his throat, his eyes flashing red as he turned to stare at the elevator into his loft.

            The doors to the elevator slid open. Deucalion was standing there, Kali and Ennis flanking him on either side.

            “What are you doing here?” Derek snapped.

            “Now, now Derek… I just want to talk.” Deucalion smiled. “I thought it was overdue for us to have a little chat.”

            Derek glared daggers at him. “I have nothing to say to you.”

            “Well then I guess you’ll just listen.” Deucalion smiled. “That works just as well.”

            “Get out of my apartment.” Derek barred his fangs. Now.”

            Deucalion only smiled wider. “I think we both know that’s not going to happen…”

            Derek lunged at Deucalion, no longer caring if it was three against one. Kali growled and moved to meet him, but Deucalion stopped her with a single gesture passing his cane off to her. Deucalion’s hand lashed out with surprising speed, catching Derek by the neck. He tossed Derek back against the far wall with an almost casual flick. Derek landed hard.

            “Ah…” Deucalion took his cane back from Kali, wiping the small flecks of blood his claws had drawn from Derek away on a handkerchief. “You know I almost enjoy your foolish determination…”

            Derek roared and made to attack Deucalion again.

            He never got the chance.

            Deucalion’s eyes blazed red. A blue line seemed to rush across his features before finally before leaping off and forming a kind of shadow copy of him. The shadow rippled, sprouting a wolf’s head and claws instead of a human head and hands. The shadow wolf grabbed Derek and threw him back onto the ground, pinning him there with a massive paw on his neck. Deucalion laughed.

            “The Hale spirit alright…” Deucalion cocked his head studying Derek a little closer. “Pity it seems to get so many of you killed.”

            Derek thrashed against the floor, wanting nothing more than to rip Deucalion’s throat out. But the shadow held him firm, even bringing one of its feet to bear on Derek’s arm-feet that ended in long black claws.

            Deucalion sighed. He pulled out Derek’s chair from behind the table and sat down, lording himself over Derek. “This would all be so much simpler if you’d simply join me Derek.”

            “You killed Erica.” Derek spat out. “I’d never join you.”

            “Yes that was a pity.” Deucalion sighed. He reached up to pull his glasses off and cleaned then a little. “I would have much preferred you be the one to kill her, get things rolling… but she tried to escape before our plans were ready and we just couldn’t have that now could we?”

            Derek snarled at him.

            Deucalion laughed. “We may be one short now, but I suppose you can always just turn some other teenager and kill them with your other miserable little Betas.”

            “I’ll never kill my pack.” Derek snarled.

            “That band of teenage hormones and problems?” Deucalion grinned. “I’m doing you a favor. Kali you remember how it felt to rid yourself of such burdens don’t you?”

            “Mmm.” Kali hummed happily, her claws clicking across the floor as she walked. “Liberating.”

            “I won’t do it.” Derek ground out. “You can’t make me kill them…”

            “Them?” Deucalion chuckled. “Oh Derek- I’m only going to make you kill one. Take back the power you gave them for your own…” His eyes gleamed ominously. “Then you’ll want to kill the rest yourself…”

***

            “-I’m just saying it’s virgins Scott.” Stiles was practically shouting. “Guess who else is a virgin? Me. Meaning not having sex is now possibly posing a serious and legitimate threat to my life! Somebody needs to have sex with me-somebody needs to have sex me right now!”

            “Would you keep your voice down?” Scott whispered. Danny was giving them both an amused look from across the locker room where he was talking to Jackson, and Scott could guess at how much he and the others guys might be hearing.

            “Easy for you to say!” Stiles yanked his cross-country shirt over his head with a huff. “You’re not the one in danger!”

            “We don’t know that you are either.” Scott said slowly. He and Stiles hung back a little from the others as they walked outside. “You said it was a threefold sacrifice right? Heather, the lifeguard and that girl from the woods- that’s three right? Doesn’t that mean it’s over?”

            “You don’t know that.” Stiles glanced over his shoulder but he and Scott were still mostly alone, the other guys already milling over to where Coach Finstock was shouting for them to line up. “And even if it is we still have no idea what it was all for-“

            “Stilinski! McCall! Stop yapping and get ready to run!” Finstock shouted.

            Stiles rolled his eyes. “Yes Coach…”

            Finstock blew his whistle and everyone took off. Scott hung back a little to keep talking to Stiles as they rounded the first bend and headed into the woods.

            “We’ll figure out it okay?” Scott said evenly. “Maybe it has something to do with the Alphas. All of this seemed to start right as they showed up…”

            “Yeah maybe…” Stiles wheezed a little as he ran. “But why would they-“

            A scream broke out in front of them. Scott exchanged a quick look with Stiles and then barreled forward, running faster up to the front of the other students.

            “Scott wait-!” Stiles pushed his way through the crowd as best he could. When he finally got to the front he froze. There was a dead body hanging from one of the trees-a body wearing a Beacon Hills sweatshirt.

            “It’s Kyle.” Scott said quietly.

            “Who?” Stiles asked.

            “A senior. He was the one asking me about vet stuff this morning…”

            “Which means he must have been killed recently.” Stiles grimaced. All around him the other students were tuning away or closing their eyes. Some of them were crying, and Stiles could hear someone throwing up not too far away. Stiles caught sight of Jackson standing a little ways away with the twins, who both looked a bit rattled. Stiles couldn’t blame them. He doubted ritual murders were something you looked for in a new town. Stiles sighed. He turned back to Scott.

            “You know what this means right?”

            Scott nodded grimly. “It isn’t over…”

***

            Stiles let a heavy folder slam down onto the table. They were in the library, Scott and Stiles having decided it was time to get all hands on deck. Stiles was standing at one end of a long table, Scott, Lydia, Allison, Boyd, Isaac and even Jackson circled up around it.

            Lydia frowned. “What’s all that?”

            “Everything I was able to grab on the first few victims.” Stiles said. “If someone is sacrificing virgins we need to find out why…”

            “Kyle wasn’t a virgin.” Lydia said pointedly.

            “Wait what?” Stiles gaped. “How do you know?”

            “Really?” Lydia raised an eyebrow pointedly.

            “Oh-“ Stiles blushed. “Uh-okay…”

            “When did that happen?” Jackson asked darkly.

            Lydia glared at him. “Like you would care. You were halfway around the world at the time.”

            “I told you-“

            “Okay!” Stiles said loudly. “We can hash out our personal lives later! Again I say, human sacrifices here people! On top of a crazy pack of Alphas that’s probably trying to kill us all.”

            “Not probably.” Isaac said quietly. “And I don’t know if they want all us of us dead or not. Maybe just the ones in their way…”

            Scott furrowed his brow. “In their way how?”

            “Of recruiting Derek.” Boyd said shortly. “His pack…”

            Jackson sighed. “Are we sure the sacrifices or whatever aren’t just them too?”

            Stiles shook his head. “No, but I don’t know what they would get out of it. “

            “Why all the extra work to sacrifice someone when you can just kill them?” Lydia wondered.

            Stiles sat down with a huff. “Exactly… if the killings aren’t just to kill then what’s the connection?”

            “Could Kyle be different?” Scott asked slowly. “You said this type of sacrifice was a threefold death but he makes four…”

            “Yeah maybe.” Stiles shrugged.

            “So basically we know nothing.” Jackson deadpanned. He sighed again. “Great…” Jackson grabbed his backpack and stood up. “Well if you come up with anything I guess let me know.”

            Lydia eyed him curiously. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

            “I’m heading home.” Jackson hiked his backpack up a little higher on his shoulder. “I’ve got some things to do before I head to the carnival tonight.”

            Lydia raised an eyebrow skeptically. “You’re going to the carnival?”

            Jackson grinned. “With Ethan.”

            “Wait-“ Stiles gaped at him a little. “Like _with_ Ethan?”

            “Yes. With Ethan.” Jackson stared at Stiles with a small cocky smile, as if waiting for a challenge.

            “Huh…” Stiles shrugged.

            Scott frowned. “I forgot about the carnival…”

            “What about it?” Allison asked.

            “The Alphas…” Scott said slowly. “Or whoever’s doing this… If Stiles is right and they’re trying to sacrifice people who meet certain requirements…”

            “…Then they couldn’t ask for a much bigger sea of potential targets.” Allison finished.

            Scott nodded.

            “So what are you saying?” Isaac asked.

            “We need to be there.” Scott said firmly. “All of us.”

            Jackson snorted. “Thanks but a group date wasn’t exactly what I had in mind…”

            “Oh please…” Lydia rolled her eyes. She pulled out her phone and started texting. “I’ll be there. Maybe Aiden will want to come…”

            “We’ll just be on the look out for anything weird.” Scott shrugged. “Hopefully nothing happens and we can all still have a fun night.”

            “Yeah.” Jackson turned to leave, shooting Scott a sarcastic smile. “When has that ever happened?”

***

            “Step right up, step right up-“ A carnival attendant was shouting out challenges to people as they walked by. It was one of those big strength tests with the hammer. Whenever someone hit the platform a little indicator would race up a series of progressively higher numbers-at the very top there was a bell and a couple lights that could go off. Jackson watched for a few minutes amused, as Greenberg and a few other guys from the lacrosse team tried their hand. Nobody he saw managed to ring the bell, but a few of the stronger ones got close. They lost interest when after a second and even third attempt no one was able to do it. The game’s attendant started looking around for new blood. His eyes landed on Jackson and Ethan. The man grinned.

            “What about you two? Care to try?” He sized Jackson up for a second, and seemed to take stock of how close Jackson and Ethan were standing together. “Win a prize for your boyfriend? You don’t even have to ring the bell. If you can get it up to the 9 at least I’ll let you pick something out from the first row…”

            Jackson glanced over at the game’s small prize table. They were mostly stuffed animals, the odd inflatable, a few t-shirts… the typical carnival game prizes he supposed. Jackson didn’t feel particularly compelled to win any of them, but he had to admit the idea of giving one to Ethan seemed kind of fun. Jackson looked back at the game. The 9 was the level just under the bell. None of the other guys Jackson had seen try had even gotten that high. The attendant probably figured Jackson, being a somewhat smaller guy, wouldn’t stand a chance either, but between the attendant making winning seem easier, and Ethan standing behind Jackson, it was clear the man was hoping to play on Jackson’s competiveness- or a pretty accurate desire to show off in front of Ethan and win him something- to get Jackson to play. Jackson looked up at Ethan questioningly.

            Ethan smiled and shrugged. “Could be fun…”

            Jackson stepped up to the game and handed the eager attendant a couple of his tickets. The man passed Jackson the large hammer, and Jackson hefted it experimentally. Jackson was confident with his wolf strength he could easily ring the bell if he wanted to. Honestly he would have liked to think he could do that even before he got turned, but after just seeing several of his teammates fail at he wasn’t so sure. And the attendant was clearly thinking that Jackson’s slightly smaller frame made him less likely to win. Jackson adjusted his hands on the hammer a little. Better to hold back then. But not too much…

            The hammer slammed into the platform and the little metal piece rocketed up the game. The attendant smiled a little as it looked like it was going to stop just shy of the 9. Jackson frowned. Had he underdone it? But then the nine lit up too. Jackson grinned.

            “Any prize from the first level?”

            The attendant nodded clearly surprised. “Yeah.”

            Jackson walked over to the table to take a closer look. Not surprisingly all the prizes on the first level were a good bit smaller then those on the level above it.

            “Let me give it a try.” As Jackson watched, Ethan shrugged out of his leather jacket. He was wearing just a white t-shirt underneath that hugged itself close to his body. Ethan’s arms looked huge, straining the fabric of his sleeves. Jackson took a second to admire the view. Ethan caught him looking and smiled.

            He held out his leather jacket. “Mind holding this for me?”

            Jackson slung it under his arm and turned back towards the prize table. No matter how good Ethan’s muscles looked in that shirt, Jackson doubted he’d be able to win anything. Jackson would just have to pick out something he’d like. A small stuffed wolf caught Jackson’s eye. He grinned. It seemed too perfect. Jackson reached out and picked it up smugly.

            _CLANG!_

Jackson whipped back around in surprise. The bell was still was shaking and the lights around the top of the machine were all flashing. Ethan was beaming looking between the baffled attendant and Jackson.

            The attendant nodded at the table. “Take any prize you want.” He said gruffly.

            Ethan walked over to Jackson and the table, still grinning ear to ear. He took his jacket back from Jackson and flung it over one of his shoulders. Jackson tried not to find the whole thing endearing and failed miserably.

            “Here.” He passed the small gray wolf to Ethan. “Your prize.”

            “Does that mean I get to pick something for you?” Ethan asked. He scooped out the bigger prizes before laughing and passing one of them to Jackson. It was another toy wolf, although this one was nearly the size of Jackson’s arm and black instead of gray. Ethan grinned again. “Now we both have one.”

            Jackson took it graciously, and smiled, deciding not to make the obvious joke about size. He wrapped the wolf under one arm and grinned. “You win this round.” Jackson nodded to another game, he couldn’t see exactly what it was-something with squirt guns. “But I’m betting I can beat you with those…”

            Ethan laughed and wrapped an arm around Jackson’s shoulders. “You’re on.” They started making there way over through the small crowd.

            “See anything yet?”

            Stiles jumped a little from where he was leaning back against a bench watching Ethan and Jackson absently. Scott stepped up next to Stiles a small handful of tickets poking out of his pocket. Stiles shook his head. “I haven’t seen that Deucalion guy or the lady with the deadly feet anywhere. Ditto on the other guy. And if the freakishly huge Alpha were I have feeling we’d know.”

            Scott nodded. “Yeah I haven’t seen any sign of them either.”

            Over by the squirt gun game Ethan and Jackson were laughing. Stiles couldn’t tell for sure from this distance, but if looked like they had started to spray each other rather than the targets. Stiles saw Scott watching them too and felt a small pang in his chest for his friend. “I think I saw Allison scouting around over by the Ferris wheel…”

            “Yeah…” Scott sighed and seemed to subconsciously shove his tickets further into his pocket.

            Stiles thought he knew at least some of how Scott felt. Despite their stated goal in all coming to this thing, Lydia and Aiden had snuck off together not much after Ethan and Jackson. Only Stiles hadn’t seen them playing at any of the games. “Boyd and Isaac see anything?”

            Scott shook his head. “Isaac just texted me. They’re walking around the perimeter again.”

            “I guess it’s a good thing right?” Stiles offered. “It’s not like we wanted super powered killers to crash a school event…” Still it felt a little discoursing. Like despite all their work attempting to understand the Alpha pack and the threat they posed, the gang was still making stabs in the dark.

            Scott nodded absently.

            “We should have gotten Derek to come too.”

            “I called him.” Scott pulled out his phone and glanced down at the screen. “He never responded…”

            “Hmm.” Stiles frowned. “How weird is that? I’m not sure… Derek kind of seems like the type of guy to ignore messages sometimes.”

            “Usually he at least says something.” Scott shrugged. “ I don’t know…”

            Stiles sighed and stretched his arms out. “Well- should we do another circuit I guess?”

            “Sure.” Scott nodded.

            “And if nothing else-“ Stiles patted Scott’s arm. “We can find a game you like and I’ll help you spend some of those tickets.”

            “Sounds good.” Scott laughed.

***

            Lydia pulled Aiden farther back into the small ally between two carnival games and kissed him again.

            Aiden grinned. “You know this was exactly how I saw this carnival going.”

            “Oh really?” Lydia laughed. “Someone’s confident.”

            “Always.” Aiden pulled her into another kiss.

            “Mmm…” Lydia’s phone buzzed and she pulled back briefly to check it.

            Aiden cocked an eyebrow. “Everything okay?”

            Lydia nodded. It was just Scott texting her again. “Fine.”

            “Good.” Aiden smirked and reached out to take her phone. He switched it over to silent and slid it back into Lydia’s pocket. “Then where were we?”

            Lydia smiled.

***

            Isaac and Boyd finished another pass around the carnival. Still no sign of the Alphas or anything else weird. Isaac was being unusually quiet. Between the two of them the lion’s share of conversation usually rested on Isaac and not Boyd. Boyd watched him carefully, as Isaac kicked a small rock with his shoe.

            “You okay?”

            Isaac shrugged.

            Boyd sighed. “Last night still?”

            “Yeah…” Isaac looked up at him, brushing some of his curls away from his face absently. “I just- I don’t know I still feel off I guess. I don’t know what it was or why it happened. Everybody seems to think I was just dreaming but it didn’t feel like that. And Derek still hasn’t said anything about it to me…”

            “Do you want him too?” For as much as Boyd appreciated Derek and knew Isaac felt the same way, their Alpha was not exactly acing personal communication.

            “I don’t know.” Isaac sighed. “I mean I attacked him. I _hurt_ him. He should say something right?”

            “Not on purpose.” Boyd said firmly. “And he healed. I think it would take a lot more to actually hurt him…”

            “Still…” Isaac glanced up at the sky. The moon was already starting to wane a little, though it was difficult to see through the clouds tonight. Isaac hopped up on a raised concrete barrier separating the parking lot from the field where the carnival had been set up. He kept walking along it, a couple feet up without missing a step. “How are you doing?” Isaac asked quietly.

            Boyd stiffened. The two of them hadn’t really talked about Erica yet. It all still felt too raw. Even now just walking along with Isaac Boyd could feel her absence, like a light that had been snuffed out, one that couldn’t be replaced. Boyd and Isaac still had each other and Derek, but there was something missing, a hole where Erica should have been in their pack. Boyd could almost feel Jackson on the periphery, but his connection wasn’t very solid yet. And even once it was it wouldn’t be the same as it had with Erica. Everyone had lost Erica as a friend, but Boyd, Isaac and Derek has lost more, another bond the others couldn’t quite understand. Boyd couldn’t find the words to say all that to Isaac, but he knew he didn’t have to.

            Isaac took another step forward still balancing on the concrete. “I miss her too…”

            Boyd nodded. He struggled to pull his thoughts together. “It’s like-“

            Isaac stumbled and fell off of the concrete slab. Boyd expected him to just hop right back up, or at least to brush himself off, but Isaac just stayed hunched over his head down. Boyd frowned. “Isaac?”

            Isaac’s head whipped up. His eyes were glowing red, pupils and irises both. But it wasn’t like the pure Alpha red Boyd was used to seeing from Derek’s eyes, or now even in the enemy Alpha pack, their was something off about the color, malignant almost.

            Boyd barely had time to take it all in before Isaac shoved past him with a snarl. His noise twitched and his eyes seemed to be looking for something. Then suddenly Isaac seemed to lock onto a spot in the woods at the opposite edge of the carnival from where he and Boyd were now. Isaac howled and took off running.

***

            “Did you hear that?”

            Stiles swallowed the piece of cotton candy in his mouth and listened for a minute. “No? Unless you’re talking about all the bells and carnival music…”

            Scott shook his head. “There was a howl… Isaac.”

            “A howl? A howl like I just spotted something or like an I’m in trouble in and need help kind of howl?” Stiles tossed the paper cone from his cotton candy into the trash. “Scott?”

            Before Scott could answer Boyd came running down towards them.

            “Boyd what-“

            “Something’s wrong with Isaac.” Boyd said urgently. “His eyes got all funny and he took off running…”

            “Which way?”

            Boyd nodded to the woods by the far end of the carnival. Scott took off running, Boyd right behind him.

            “Wait for me!” Stiles shouted.

            “Call the others!” Scott didn’t slow down. If anything he started running faster. “Then come find us!”

            Stiles watched them disappear into the distance, fumbling to grab his phone out of his pocket. “Yeah-yeah I’ll do that…” Stiles started dialing.

            Scott and Boyd made their way through the carnival as fast as they could, dodging small crowds of people and shouting apologies where needed. The minute they were clear of any potentially curious bystanders, Boyd and Scott’s eyes both burst into golden light, calling up their wolf senses to help them track Isaac. It didn’t turn out to be that hard. The growling and sounds of a fight carried even without enhanced hearing. Together Scott and Boyd ran deeper into the woods, stopping in shock when they saw what was happening.

            Derek must have shown up after all. He was locked in a fight with Isaac, Isaac’s eyes flaring unnaturally as he slashed at Derek savagely. Derek was clearly holding back, trying not to hurt Isaac, but whatever was driving Isaac wasn’t showing Derek the same consideration. Scott could see a few cuts in Derek’s shirt already, and a longer gash on the sleeve on his leather jacket.

            “What’s wrong with Isaac?” Scott asked quickly.

            “Does it look like I know?” Derek snarled and sidestepped another blow from Isaac. Derek’s eyes flashed red and he roared, bringing to bear the full force of his Alpha status to try and calm Isaac down. It didn’t seem to make any difference. Isaac just lunged at him again. Derek delivered a quick kick to Isaac’s chest, making him stumble back a few steps and buying Derek some more breathing room.

            Isaac started to leap towards Derek again. Scott rushed forward throwing himself between the alpha and his beta, though if Derek was having trouble snapping Isaac out of whatever this was, Scott probably didn’t have much of a chance either. Scott braced himself for a blow, but surprisingly none came. Isaac seemed to completely ignore him instead, running around Scott to charge again at Derek.

            Boyd tried to grab Isaac from behind, using his size to pin him down. But whatever was going with Isaac seemed to be making him stronger too, at least enough to wrench himself out of Boyd’ grip. But again Scott noticed, Isaac didn’t lash out at Boyd. He seemed to have eyes only for Derek.

            With a howl Isaac rushed at Derek again. Derek ducked a slash of Isaac’s claws and landed a firm hit to Isaac’s back. But Scott could tell Derek was still pulling his punches. Wounds from an Alpha would take longer to heal, and Derek didn’t want to do any real damage to Isaac-which was going to make stopping him a problem.

            Scott was racking his brain trying to think of something they could do. Together he, Derek, and Boyd might be able to restrain Isaac at least for a little while-but that was hardly a long-term solution when he was like this. And that didn’t even begin to address the _why_ of Isaac being like this…

            Allison and a breathless Stiles broke through the trees behind Scott. Stiles doubled over panting as Allison seemed to quickly take stock of the situation. She grabbed for her bag. Allison hadn’t been able to sneak her full size bow into the carnival, but Scott watched her pull out the smaller crossbow she used sometimes. And that wasn’t all-as Scott watched she grabbed something else out of her bag too, and after a moment’s hesitation spread some on her arrow.

            Scott’s eyes widened. “Allison wait-“

            She fired. The bolt from her crossbow whistled through the air towards Derek and Isaac. They both seemed to notice at the last second, and Derek even moved to push Isaac out of the way, but Allison’s aim was perfect. Her arrow struck Isaac’s shoulder with a soft thunk. Isaac froze up for a second, his eyes fading back to their normal golden brown before he collapsed to the ground.

            “Isaac!” Derek hovered over his beta anxiously. He whirled to face Allison his eyes burning red. “What did you do?” He snarled.

            “Helped you pretty clearly.” Allison slipped her crossbow back into her bag. She picked up the empty container Scott had seen pull out from the ground where she dropped it and sighed. Whatever had been in, it was empty now. Allison had used all of it on Isaac. Scott desperately hoped it hadn’t been wolfsbane. Allison wouldn’t do that would she?

            “Uhh…” Isaac groaned. “Derek?”

            “I’m right here.” Derek moved to help Isaac sit up, careful to avoid the arrow still stuck in his shoulder.

            “What happened?” Isaac asked a little groggily.

            Derek shook his head. “We don’t know.”

            Isaac frowned. “I can’t feel my legs… or my arms…”

            “Kanima venom.” Allison took a cautious step closer to Isaac, still mindful of Derek’s glare. “My dad and I managed to recover a little last year. I’d planned to use it on the Alphas…”

            Isaac smiled weakly. “Thanks for not poisoning me.”

            “I wouldn’t do that.” Allison said firmly.

            “Wow. And it was even just one arrow this time.” Boyd said gruffly. He clearly still hadn’t forgiven Allison for some of her darker moments with Gerard. “So nice of her…”

            Allison looked a little uncomfortable at Boyd’s comment, but Isaac just smiled a little dopily. Scott wasn’t sure if the Kanima venom was hitting him extra hard, or if it was some kind of after effect of whatever had been happening to him.

            “Thanks anyways Allison…” Isaac said pleasantly. “Remind me never to pick a fight with you…”

            “What do we do now?” Stiles asked. “That venom’s not going to last forever, and we don’t want Isaac to get in a Derek killing mood again…”

            “We can take him to Deaton.” Scott offered. “He might know something. And he could help take out that arrow without doing anymore damage.” Scott shrugged. “Not that Isaac won’t heal…”

            “How are we going to get him there?” Stiles asked skeptically. “He’s not exactly able to walk to the car…”

            Derek was already lifting Isaac up carefully in his arms, easily supporting him with his Alpha’s strength. “Let’s go.” He said shortly.

            Scott frowned, and suddenly realizing who was missing. “Where are Jackson and Lydia?”

            “I don’t know man.” Stiles sighed. “I tried calling them both but got nothing but voicemail.”

            “Probably too busy with their dates.” Boyd grumbled.

            Stiles shook his head. “Couples man…” Allison and Scott exchanged a quick pained glanced, and Stiles winced a little. Their relationship was still in some in weird nebulous place. Stiles wasn’t even sure they knew where exactly the two of them stood.

            “I uh-“ Scott coughed awkwardly. “I’ll text them I guess and let them know where we’re going. If they see anything weird we can always come back.”

            “Assuming they see anything but the twins’ faces you mean.” Stiles said.

            Scott sighed but didn’t argue the point. He probably should be happy that at least someone in their group of friends seemed to be in a good relationship, but it kept making things more complicated.

            Derek turned back towards the parking still carrying Isaac and started walking, effectively ending the discussion. Scott pulled out his phone to tell Deaton they were coming. Hopefully his boss would be able to give them some answers.

***

            It was raining by the time they made it to the vet clinic. Not too hard, but enough to make things a little more miserable. Deaton opened the main doors and the mountain ash gate for them. Derek carried Isaac the whole way in, laying him down gently on the exam table, and standing behind him so Isaac could lean back and at least partially sit up. Isaac still couldn’t move his legs or arms yet, but he was starting to be able to at least turn his head a little.

            Deaton gloved up and started to work on the arrow, swinging an overhead light around to help him see better. He worked it out carefully, mindful to avoid hitting any arteries which even with werewolf healing would cause some problems and make a mess. Isaac didn’t have to worry about the pain at least, the numbing effect of the Kanima venom providing that useful little side benefit. As Deaton worked Derek and Isaac brought him up to speed on what had been happening. Deaton didn’t say anything while they talked, he kept his expression neutral, but Scott thought it looked a little grim too.

            “So this has happened twice now in a single twenty four window?” Deaton asked.

            Isaac nodded nervously.

            Deaton tossed his used gloves away in the trash and eyed Isaac carefully. “You said the Alphas captured you before-and they went through you memories yes?”

            “Mine and Jackson’s.” Isaac cocked his head a little trying and not quite managing to look at Boyd. “Maybe Boyd and Erica’s too I don’t know. We had to get Peter to help pull up our memories of where they held us again…”

            Something in what Isaac said seemed to confirm Deaton’s suspicions. “Memory alteration can be very powerful-however it’s used.”

            Derek frowned. “However?”

            “If I had to guess I’d say this Alpha pack did more then just take a few of Isaac’s and Jackson’s memories to throw you off their trail a bit longer.” Deaton crossed his arms over his chest grimly. “I suspect they may have planted a few false memories in your head as well. Or at least the near equivalent, a kind of program if you will, using your memories to influence your behavior…”

            “By making me see Derek as one of them…” Isaac shivered. “By making me…” He swallowed hard. “The refrigerator…”

            Scott felt a fresh wave of guilt roll through him. It was too easy to forget sometimes what Isaac had been through. What had been happening to him unnoticed for years…

            “Yeah but why though?” Stiles asked. “I mean taking the memories I get but what is this supposed to be? Just another distraction?”

            “Or a way to try and force Derek’s hand” Allison offered grimly. She shrugged when the others gave her confused looks. “You said the Alphas want Derek to kill his pack and join them. If Isaac was attacking him and wouldn’t stop…”

            “So what do we do?” Derek asked, one of his hands squeezing Isaac’s uninjured shoulder a little. “Call Peter again?”

            Deaton shook his head. “It would be better for you to do it. Your pack bond to Isaac will make it easier for both of you.”

            “I’ve never done that before.” Derek balked a little. “I’m not sure I could. Peter-“

            Deaton raised one eyebrow. “I’ll walk you through it.” His tone didn’t offer much room for argument, even from an Alpha like Derek.

            “Pull out your claws.”

            Derek did so reluctantly.

            “Now-“ Deaton walked up besides Derek. “Put your hand on his neck. Feel where you need to go. Let your instincts take over…”

            Stiles frowned. “Not exactly very precise there…” He fell silent at a glare from Derek.

            Derek’s eyes glowed red and he slowly eased his claws into Isaac’s neck. Isaac flinched a little, though whether it was from actually feeling something or just worrying he would Scott couldn’t say. Derek and Isaac’s eyes both seemed to glaze over a little as he watched. Deaton was studying them both carefully too.

            “Look for anything that shouldn’t be there.” Deaton said firmly. “Memory manipulation like this should leave some kind of a mark. It will stand out…”

            “I think I see it...” Derek grit his teeth, his eyes half closing in concentration.

            “Good.” Deaton nodded. “Now think of it like a stray stone in a rushing river. You need to pull it out so the flow of the river can be smoothed out again.”

            Derek was quiet for a minute, but then his fingers seemed to glow ever so slightly, and he eased his claws out of Isaac’s neck. Isaac slumped forward on the table a little and Deaton gave Derek another satisfied nod.

            Stiles cocked his head a little looking at Isaac. “Is he okay?”

            Isaac started to fall forward, and Derek helped ease him back so he was lying down on the table instead.

            “The process is always a little draining. For something like this…” Deaton paused considering. “Think of it like rebooting one of your computers. Isaac should be up again and feeling more like himself in an hour or so.”

            “So we check Boyd too right?” Allison asked. “And probably Jackson if the Alphas had him captive too. How long would it take them to do something like this?”

            “A few hours at least.” Deaton said. “They would need a little time to study the persons mind and figure out how to insert the ideas they wanted. It’s more of an art than a science…”

            Scott considered the implications of that while Derek scanned Boyd’s mind for any sign of tampering. If the process took as long as Deaton said than the rest of them should all be in the clear. No one else had been alone with one the Alphas for that long. Derek reported to finding some similar attempt in Boyd’s head to what the Alphas had done to Isaac, but it hadn’t seemed to take. Maybe they’d done it wrong, or maybe they’d just been planning to have it ready as insurance policy if the plan to set Boyd on them during the full moon failed. Regardless everyone breathed a little easier knowing it was gone. Derek would have to find Jackson sometime tomorrow and clear him too, chances were good if they’d tried messing with Boyd and Isaac’s heads they had with Jackson as well. Scott sighed. As much as he wanted to think of this as a win it still felt like the Alpha pack held all the cards. They were making plans, moving Derek, Scott and the others around like pieces on a chessboard. Scott knew they needed to do something soon if they wanted any chance at stopping them. They needed a way to fight back.

***

            Aiden laughed as the rain started to come down harder. “Do you think maybe we should put this on hold?”

            Lydia pushed him back up against the wall of the little alcove she had found for them earlier, out of the way of the rest of the carnival. “You trying to get rid of me?”

            “Course not.” Aiden grinned. “I don’t mind a little water if you don’t”

            “Good.” Lydia smiled and kissed him again. Thunder rumbled a little in the distance but Lydia paid it no mind. Here in the relative dark of the make shift alley with a boy she liked, the rest of the world just seemed a little less important. And besides Lydia had taken stock of the area to make sure it wouldn’t attract lightning if it came to that.

            As if on cue, a flash streaked across the sky, followed by another low rumble of thunder a minute later. Lydia did the calculations quickly in her head, Aiden’s mouth still locked on hers. The storm was moving away from them-heading east… Lightning crackled again, momentarily brightening their little hideaway. Lydia had a second to appreciate Aiden in a rain soaked shirt, before something at the far end of the alley caught her eye.

            The clear silhouette of another person.

            Lydia froze a little, pulling back from Aiden.

            “What?” Aiden frowned down at her. “What is it?”

            Lydia’s eyes were still locked on where the silhouette had been. Lightening flashed again a few moments later. There it was again. Someone else was here. This time Aiden saw it too. He started to take a step forward, and in front of Lydia.

            “Who-“

            Darkness descended again a second later. Lydia grabbed for her phone. She felt a twinge of guilt when she saw she had several missed calls from Stiles, and a few texts from Scott and Allison, but Lydia couldn’t let that bother her right now. She flicked the flashlight mode on, and strode forward brazenly. Aiden was right behind her.

            “Hey!” she shouted “I don’t know who you are or what you think you’re doing-“

            “Lydia-“ Aiden sounded a little nervous.

            Lydia kept walking, shinning her light in front of her. She was almost close enough to see the other person now. “Are you some kind of creep just watching people-“

            The light from Lydia’s phone finally washed across the person’s face and Lydia faltered.

            It was Mr. Harris. And he was very, very dead.

            Lydia saw the same marks and signs Stiles had told her about from the other bodies, throat cut, strangled, blow to the head…

            “Damn…” Aiden looked more rattled than Lydia had even seen him, but then again she supposed seeing the aftereffects of a murder did that to you. “Guess we’re getting a sub in science again tomorrow…”

            Aiden took out his own phone and started dialing the Sheriff’s department. Lydia was only half listening, her mind reeling with another question…

            _Why did she keep finding bodies?_


	5. Frayed

            Lights flashed red and blue around them. In the distance, Lydia could hear more sirens coming. The carnival was long over, and the rain at least had stopped for a little while. Sheriff deputies were pouring over the scene, putting up police tape and carefully loading Mr. Harris' body into the back of an ambulance.

            "Lydia?"

            Stiles, Scott, and Derek made their way over slowly from across the police line, the deputy letting them through when he caught sight of Stiles. Lydia managed a weak smile.

            "Hey…"

            Stiles hugged her awkwardly, and then glanced around a little nervously. "Where's Aiden?"

            "Over there." Lydia nodded behind one of the other buildings. "He needed to make a phone call."

            Stiles sighed. "Yeah… I doubt finding a murder victim is exactly top of the list of things you want to have to tell your parents about when you just moved to a new town…"

            "Or ever probably." Derek added in a deadpan.

            "Do they have any idea what happened?" Scott asked.

            "No." Lydia shook her head. "But I saw his body-" She shuddered a little. "It was just like the lifeguard… and the others…"

            " I don't get it…" Stiles ran a hand through his hair. He turned to Derek and Scott. "You guys were here most of the night- you would have noticed if the Alphas came in right?"

            Scott nodded, but Derek looked less convinced. Derek shrugged. "Maybe. But we weren't here all night."

            "Yeah, but doesn't that seem a little convenient too?" Stiles asked. "The memory manipulation or whatever they did to Isaac flares up right before we find a dead body?"

            Lydia frowned. "Memory manipulation?"

            "Apparently the Alphas messed with Isaac and Boyd's heads a little more than we thought. Derek's gonna have to check out Jackson's tomorrow…"

            "We should all meet up tomorrow." Scott added. "We need to figure out what's happening."

            "You mean like why someone's sacrificing a bunch of people?" Stiles chewed on his lip thoughtfully. "Though I have to say I'm not really going to miss Harris too much. We still don't know what all these people have in common either. I kind of doubt Mr. Harris was a virgin- although that might explain a lot-"

            Scott cut him off. "Stiles…"

            Stiles threw up his hands. "Yeah fine. Respect for the dead or whatever. I'm just saying…"

            "You're forgetting we know Kyle wasn't a virgin." Lydia said.

            Stiles sighed. "Right…"

            "Okay then-" Scott nodded slowly. "So we all meet up before school tomorrow then yeah? Derek can do his thing with Jackson and the rest of us can look around Mr. Harris' classroom a little and see if we can find anything useful."

            "Assuming we can get inside it." Lydia said pointedly.

            Scott flicked his fingers extending one of his claws. "I can get us inside."

            "Okay then." Stiles nodded slowly. "Tomorrow I guess…"

            Derek gave a grunt of acknowledgement before wandering off, and Scott followed him a minute later. Stiles lingered just a minute longer, glancing back at Lydia.

            "You sure you're okay?"

            "Of course…" Lydia smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "Besides I already found my requisite dead body for the day right?" She laughed hollowly. "What's going to be worse than that?"

            As Stiles watched she trailed off in the opposite direction of the parking lot, probably to go find Aiden. Stiles really hoped he didn't have to answer that question…

***

            The parking lot was still mostly empty at school the next morning by the time everyone got there. None of the buses had shown up yet, and students who could drive themselves wouldn't roll in until closer to the actual start of the school day, which meant the few cars already situated in the parking lot likely belonged to teachers, here for early morning meetings. Jackson was the last one to show up, climbing out of his Porsche smoothly, in a wardrobe that probably cost more than the clothes several of the others were wearing put together- Lydia excluded.

            Scott nodded to him as he joined the little circle they were all standing in. "Okay, everybody ready then?"

            "First things first-" Derek flicked his claws out.

            Jackson sighed, but dutifully lowered his head and turned around, giving Derek easy access to his neck. "I hope you're better at this than Peter…"

            Isaac smiled a little. "I'm not sure I'd go that far…"

            Derek glared at Isaac, and he fell silent. Though notably, Derek didn't really seem that mad, and Isaac was still smiling when Derek turned back to Jackson. "You ready?"

            Jackson nodded.

            Derek slid his claws in. Jackson hissed a moment, before both his and Derek's eyes seemed to glaze over a bit. The others just watched them curiously.

            When several minutes had gone by with no discernible change in either of them, Stiles frowned. "How long is this supposed to take? With Isaac, it was like a minute right?"

            Scott nodded slowly. After another few seconds, Derek finally broke away from Jackson, with a curious look on his face. Jackson was rubbing the back of his neck a little but stopped when he saw the look on Derek's face, and the slight confusion coming from everyone else.

            "What?" Jackson asked.

            "There wasn't anything there." Derek's frown deepened. "The Alphas didn't mess with your memories at all…"

            "So what-" Jackson cocked his head, mulling it over. "You were supposed to kill me last or something? Once you decided you ‘liked it'?" Jackson huffed. "Great…lucky me I guess."

            "I'm not going to hurt any of you." Derek growled, his eyes flashing red briefly.

            "Yeah, yeah… I know…" Jackson shifted uncomfortably.

            "Which actually brings me to my next point-" Derek rounded on Isaac. "You're going to be staying with Scott for a while."

            "What?" Isaac protested. "If this is about yesterday-"

            "It's not." Derek said firmly. "The Alpha pack has already broken into the apartment once. They could do it again. Clearly, they want me alive for now, but I'm not putting you in their crosshairs."

            "And how is it going to be any safer at Scott's?" Isaac asked. "No offense Scott…"

            Scott smiled. "It's fine."

            "He and I already talked about it." Derek said firmly. "His mother can set up a mountain ash barrier around the house and keep the alphas from getting in."

            "So what you're just going to keep yourself in danger?" Isaac said darkly. "And what about Boyd and Jackson?"

            "Yeah, I'm not moving in with McCall." Jackson broke in. "I'll figure my own thing out."

            Derek growled at him a little but didn't object. "It'll just be temporary Isaac. Until we figure all this out…"

            Isaac nodded glumly. "And you and your mom are okay with having me?"

            "Yeah." Scott smiled wider. "Yeah, we'd love to have you stay with us for awhile."

            Jackson snorted. "Love seems like a strong word."

            Derek smacked him.

            "Ow!" Jackson growled. "Learn to take a joke…" He cleared his throat a little louder than necessary. "So did we come here to creep on Harris' stuff or not?"

            "Boys and their feelings…" Lydia rolled her eyes. "Fine- let's go then."

            Lydia strode off towards the school purposefully, the others slowly feel in behind her. Allison jogged a few steps to catch up with her, and she and Lydia exchanged small smiles. "We'd have been standing around there all day at their rate." Lydia said softly.

            "You know we can hear you right?" Jackson called forward.

            "Oh, I know." Lydia tossed her hair a little and grinned at him over her shoulder. "I just didn't care."

            Allison laughed and pulled the door to the school open for them. The seven of them- Boyd was getting dropped off later by his parents- didn't exactly make for an inconspicuous crowd, but luckily the school hallways were still as empty as the parking lot outside had suggested. Harris' classroom door was locked, but before any of the werewolves could volunteer to break it, Stiles was already picking it, with a level of skill he really shouldn't have had as the Sheriff's son. Finally, the door swung open.

            "Okay-" Stiles stood up slowly clearly very pleased with himself. "Let's get to looking…"

            The classroom wasn't that large, but they spread out anyways. Derek hovered by the door, glancing out into the hallway to make sure no one else was coming. Scott and Isaac worked their way to the back of the room with Allison, looking through the large storage cupboards there. That left Stiles, Lydia, and Jackson to tackle Harris' desk.

            "Looks like he was doing some last minute grading…" Stiles shuffled through a pile of quizzes.

            "I don't remember "R" being a grade though." Jackson grabbed one of the quizzes in the pile and pulled it a little further out so the mark in red pen at the top was more visible. "Unless things have really changed while I was gone…"

            "No…" Stiles smirked. "If it were I have a feeling Harris would have given me one already."

            Lydia picked up the pile and flipped through them quickly. Only the top six quizzes were graded. She fanned them out neatly, laying the letter grades next to each other. "D-A-R-…"

            "A-C-H." Stiles frowned. "What does that mean?"

            "Don't look at me." Jackson huffed. "You two are the ones who know this kind of stuff."

            "If you mean Chemistry, then I know for a fact you aced that class too." Lydia said pointedly. "And if you mean all this-" Lydia waved her hand around the room vaguely. "I don't know what it means either."

            "Derek!" Stiles hissed in an overdramatic whisper. "Come here."

            Derek rolled his eyes but walked over to the desk. "What?"

            "Does this mean anything to you?" Stiles pointed out the letters. "Darach? Or something like that?"

            "No." Derek frowned. "What makes you so sure this means anything?"

            "Those aren't exactly normal grades Derek." Stiles chuckled.

            "Take a look at this…" Lydia had turned away from the papers and picked up a small plaque from the desk. Stiles could remember seeing it on Harris' desk before, but the words were always facing away from.

            "What is it?" Stiles asked.

            Lydia turned it around to show him. Stiles read the words carefully, looking for whatever had caught Lydia's attention. A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.

            Stiles frowned. "So what? Harris wasn't just an asshole he was amorally superior asshole?"

            "No." Lydia shook her head. "Scott, didn't you say Kyle was from a military family?"

            "Yeah…" Scott shrugged. "At least that's what he said. One of his dogs was named Bullet…"

            "I'm pretty sure Boyd said he was in ROTC too…" Isaac added.

            "Right." Lydia said. "So our first three victims were all virgins, and now the next two both seem to have military connections? That can't be a coincidence."

            "Well it could-" Stiles wilted a little under Lydia's glare. "But you're saying you think Kyle and Harris are different from the first three victims?"

            Lydia nodded. She grabbed a piece of chalk off the rail at the bottom of the blackboard and started drawing. "Think about it- Stiles you said it was a three-fold death right? The ritual?"

            "Yeah but I don't see how-"

            "So take it one step further-" Lydia drew three quick circles on the board. "Three for each threefold death." In one of the circles, Lydia scrawled out virgins, in the second military with a question mark. "The only question is why the Alphas would be doing this-"

            The door to Mr. Harris' room swung open. Ms. Blake jumped a little in shock when she saw them all.

            "W-what are you all doing in here?" She stammered. "You shouldn't be here."

            "Uh-we were all-just, um paying our respects to Mr. Harris you know?" Stiles tried to summon up a convincing smile. "He was just one of those teachers who really made a difference for us all."

            Ms. Blake eyed him skeptically. Stiles had been hoping that she was new enough she wouldn't question someone actually liking Mr. Harris. Finally, she frowned a little and turned to Derek. "What about you? What are you doing here? Strangers aren't allowed on school property."

            Stiles had to swallow a laugh at that one. "He's a family friend. You know- gave some us a ride here early so we could say goodbye before the other students got here…"

            "Right…" If Ms. Blake had seemed unconvinced by Stiles previously lie about Harris, she seemed even less sure of Derek. But then to Stiles' absolute shock- Derek Hale, the sour wolf himself, actually smiled. Stiles felt his jaw drop a little. It seemed completely unnatural to see a smile on Derek's face, but seeing Ms. Blake's reaction Stiles thought he could see a little of who Derek might have been before the fire turned his life upside down. He looked like the kind of guy who knew he was good looking, and exactly how to use that to charm someone when he needed to. Stiles almost snorted- Derek reminded him of Jackson of all people acting like this.

            "Sorry," Derek said smoothly. "I should have checked in. But the kids really wanted a moment of privacy and I wasn't sure they'd be allowed. It just seemed like a rule that might be worth bending just this once." Derek almost looked bashful, and seriously where the hell was this smooth talking Derek every other time Stiles and the rest of them had needed to get out of something? "I'll go with you to sign in right now though if you want." Derek added.

            "No…" Ms. Blake's gaze rolled over them all, and Lydia's drawing on the blackboard that Jackson was thankfully blocking most of, before finally settling back on Derek. "No, I understand." She smiled. "The school asked me to cover Mr. Harris' first period until they could get a substitute in." She bit her lip. "I'll um-I'll just come back a little later. No one else should bother you all…"

            "Thank you." Derek helped to almost steer her out of the door. "I'll make sure they're all out of here before you need to set up."

            The minute the door was closed and locked again, Derek's gloomier demeanor immediately returned. "Hurry up and finish looking. Take pictures of anything you need and let's get out of here."

            The others nodded one by one. Stiles couldn't help grinning at Derek. Derek just glared back at him.

            "Don't start."

            Stiles laughed and opened a drawer in Harris' desk. "I wasn't going to say anything…"

***

            "Hey, are you okay?"

            Jackson frowned and looked up from his locker. The whole day seemed to be passing in a blur. "What?"

            Ethan smiled sheepishly. "Aiden told me what happened last night. With Mr. Harris."

            "Oh…" Jackson frowned slightly. "Well, I wasn't there for that." He smiled. "You know that already."

            "Right…" Ethan laughed. "I uh- I just meant more with the whole there being another dead body thing. And this one being one of your teachers…"

            "Oh." Jackson paused mulling it over. Sadly Harris' death was hardly registering for Jackson as something to react to by itself. All he could keep thinking about was how it connected to whatever the Alphas might be up to. "Yeah, I'm okay…"

            "That's good…"

            "What about you?" Jackson asked seriously. "I can't imagine Beacon Hills is looking like a great place to live right about now…"

            Ethan shrugged. He smiled a little, but there was a serious weight to his voice when he finally spoke again. "It has its advantages."

            "Right…" Jackson doubted that just about now, but he wasn't going to argue the point. He grabbed a book from his locker and slammed it shut. "So uh- " Jackson nodded down the hallway. "Which way are you going?"

            Ethan smiled. "Are you asking me to walk you to class?"

            "Maybe." Jackson grinned.

            "I think I can manage that."

***

            After school, the majority of the pack regrouped at Deaton's. Scott figured if anyone might have some clue what the word they'd found meant it would be his boss- assuming the papers they'd found on Harris' desk were even connected to the Alpha pack in the first place. Allison had headed home, her dad still wasn't super keen on either of them being involved with hunting or the supernatural right now, and Scott couldn't really blame her for that. They could always pull Allison back in later if they got something solid to actually go on. And besides-as much as Scott hated to admit it, a small part of him was almost relieved. Things still weren't back to normal between him and Allison. Most days Allison didn't even seem sure if they could be. Scott was trying to stay optimistic, but in the face of the alphas and all the deaths stacking up, it was getting harder and harder.

            The clinic was empty by the time Scott and the others arrived, so Deaton waved them all into the back room. Scott could hear the rumble of Derek's car coming up a moment later, and once he pulled up Derek came back to join the others. It was just the six of them- Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Jackson, Isaac and now Derek, Boyd hadn't been able to come. Deaton waited patiently for them all to settle in before finally turning to face Scott.

            "You had some questions for me?"

            Scott nodded. "Does the word Darach mean anything to you?"

            Deaton didn't say anything at first, but Scott could tell that it did. Apparently, he wasn't the only one, because Derek's expression darkened.

            "How does it connect to the Alphas?" He growled.

            "I'm not sure I could say." Deaton turned back to Scott, seemingly unfazed by Derek's attitude. "Where did you come across the term?"

            "We found the letters written on some papers from Mr. Harris' desk." Lydia pulled an image up on her phone and passed it over to Deaton. He studied it carefully for a moment before passing it back to her.

            "And this teacher of yours- he was one of the sacrifices?"

            Scott nodded.

            Deaton sighed. "Darach refers to a druid who has turned down a dark path. Someone who is dealing with magics they shouldn't."

            "Druid?" Stiles frowned.

            "Think of a druid as a kind of advisor for a pack of werewolves." Deaton said.

            "Like you." Scott paused. "That's what you are isn't it?"

            Deaton inclined his head. "I worked with Talia Hale in that capacity for many years."

            "So the mountain ash and all that other weird stuff- that's like your deal?" Stiles asked.

            Deaton nodded.

            "But I don't get it," Lydia said. "If this Darach is a dark druid what's the connection to the Alpha pack?"

            "Maybe there isn't one." Jackson sighed. "It would be about our luck to have two things killing people in town at the same time."

            "I don't know…" Stiles frowned. "The ritual killings started right around the same time the Alphas began making their move. That seems like too big of a coincidence."

            "I'd tend to agree with Mr. Stilinski. But without more information, it's hard for me to say for sure."

            "How many druids can there really be?" Derek asked. He'd stayed silent up to that point, even when Deaton had mentioned his mother's name. "Shouldn't the list of suspects for this Darach be fairly small?"

            "I'm not sure," Deaton said dryly. "We don't exactly have a national organization, with a list of members names. But it this Alpha pack has been traveling around the country we might have more possibilities than you'd think."

            "What about Morrel?" Jackson frowned. "She's done some of the mountain ash stuff too and seemed pretty chummy with them at the bank."

            Deaton shook his head. "It's not her."

            Derek narrowed his eyes. "And how do you know that?"

            "That doesn't matter right now."

            Derek glared daggers at Deaton, but before he could say something else Lydia jumped in.

            "I'm not sure this Darach person is working with the Alphas…"

            "Huh?" Scott frowned. "Why not?"

            "Why would they bother?" Lydia crossed her arms over her chest and shuddered. "Think about it- Scott you said at the bank the Alphas had a clear upper hand. So far it seems like they've been in complete control… No offensive obviously." Lydia said to Derek. "Why would the Alphas need some kind of magical back up if they're already winning?"

            Stiles frowned. "Okay yeah, but if it's not them then what-"

            Scott's started ringing, cutting him off. Scott pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. "It's Allison." He clicked it on. "Hey, Allison what's up?"

            "Hello, Scott."

            "Deucalion." Scott's blood ran cold. The others all whipped around to look at Scott anxiously. "Where's Allison?"

            "Oh, she's right here." Scott could almost hear Deucalion's sneer. "She was kind enough to hit the button in the elevator for me."

            "If you hurt her-"

            "Please, I think we're beyond baseless threats at this point aren't we?" Deucalion laughed. "There's an abandoned shopping mall in this pedantic little place you call a town. Meet me there in one hour. And Scott? Come alone."

            Scott swallowed hard. "And you'll let Allison go?"

            "I won't be taking her at all." Deucalion laughed again. "I just needed to borrow Ms. Argent's phone. Although perhaps I should mention that my associates and I are living just one floor above her at the moment. The penthouse has a lovely view I'm told…"

            "Fine." Scott grit his teeth. "I'll be there."

            "Excellent." There was a little rustling from Deucalion's end of the phone. "Now I assume you'll want to speak to your little friend here…"

            "Allison?"

            "I'm okay." Her voice was tense. "Scott you can't really be thinking-"

            Deucalion yanked the phone back. "One hour Scott. I'll be waiting. I suggest you don't test my patience…"

            The phone called ended abruptly. Stiles and Lydia were watching Scott anxiously, the others with wolf hearing didn't look much happier.

            "You can't go alone." Derek growled.

            "He said-"

            "I know what he said." Derek snapped. "So far they've only come after me and my pack. Going in there without knowing what they want is a terrible idea."

            Stiles smiled half-heartedly. "And when Derek says that you know-" Derek glared at him. Stiles sighed. "Right I'm shutting up now."

            Deaton hummed a little to himself.

            Isaac cocked his head curiously. "What was that?"

            Jackson frowned. "What was what?"

            "Deaton," Isaac said. "He just- I don't know reacted to something we said."

            "I'm sorry but can we focus in on the fact that Deucalion was with Allison please?" Lydia asked.

            "He said he wasn't going to hurt her."

            "And you believe him?" Lydia's voice dripped with skepticism and more than a little scorn.

            "Also just point of order here- he said he wasn't making a baseless threat or planning on grabbing her." Jackson offered darkly. "That's not the same thing as leaving her alone."

            "So what are we doing then?" Stiles asked. He turned to Deaton. "And what do you know about why Deucalion might want Scott?"

            "Nothing for certain." Deaton hedged. "But I have my guesses…"

            Stiles groaned. "Which are? Jeez it's like you enjoy being cryptic…"

            That actually got Deaton to smile. "Have any of you ever heard of a true Alpha?"

            "No?" Stiles glanced around seeing everyone about as confused he was. "What the hell is that? Is Deucalion trying to become one or something?"

            Deaton shook his head. "No, it's something else. A true Alpha is what people call one who rises to the power of an Alpha on their own without needing to kill for it or inherit it."

            "So then Deucalion can't be one right?" Stiles frowned. "So who can then?"

            "Theoretically anyone." Derek had a curious look on his face. His eyes were darting between Scott and Deaton. "But it's rare in practice. It messes up pack dynamics. Usually, it's an omega who ascends…"

            "Alpha, Beta, Omega…" Isaac frowned. "Like the Triskelion. You said any of the three could become the others…falling or rising like a wheel…"

            Derek nodded.

            Stiles seemed to grasp it first. "Wait, wait, wait- are you saying Deucalion thinks Scott has the potential to be one of these true Alphas or whatever?"

            "I couldn't say for sure." Deaton shrugged. "But he wouldn't be the first one to entertain those thoughts." Deaton sighed seeing looks of confusion from most of them still. "Look at where we are. Derek's an Alpha here with his pack. But Scott's not a part of that. And you Mr. Stilinski, and Ms. Martin here, neither of you are really a part of Derek's pack either. And yet here you are…"

            Stiles gaped at him a little. "You're saying we're Scott's pack?"

            Deaton shrugged again. "Perhaps. But anyone who watched you all for a while as these Alphas have might begin to wonder…"

            "But what's so special about these true Alphas or whatever besides how they get their power?" Stiles asked.

            "Nothing really," Deaton said. "They display all the same abilities a typical Alpha might, but not necessarily anything beyond that."

            Stiles frowned. "Then why does Deucalion want one in his pack?

            "He's like a collector…" Scott said quietly.

            Lydia's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

            "Think about the Alphas we've seen in his pack…" Scott said. "Most of them seem to have something unique about them. The woman, Kali, can grow claws on her feet…the one with the face marking is practically a giant…"

            ”And Deucalion seems to be able to see despite being blind…" Jackson added.

            Scott nodded.

            "That's not all he can do…" Derek glowered. "When the Alphas showed up in my loft he made some kind of shadow copy of himself…"

            "Uh, what?" Stiles gawked at Derek wide-eyed. "Care to tell us why you're just now mentioning that little factoid?"

            "It wasn't important until now."

            "Yeah see-" Stiles grimaced. "When this guy and the psychos who work for him are trying to kill us I think knowing he has some crazy power like that is always important!"

            "What are we going to do?" Isaac asked.

            Stiles turned around to face him blankly. "What?"

            "About the meeting…" Isaac clarified softly.

            Lydia sighed. "He's right. We're on a clock here…"

            "Well, I think we can all agree Scott going alone is a terrible idea," Stiles said firmly. That got nods from pretty much everybody except Scott. Stiles turned back to Scott and shrugged. "So how do you want to play this then?"

            "Fine." Scott sighed. "We go together. All of us. You're right going in their blind on his terms would be stupid."

            "I'll text Boyd." Derek pulled out his phone and started typing.

            Stiles laughed nervously. "A forced meeting with an enemy in an abandoned mall… what could go wrong?"

***

            The old shopping mall was on the far side of Beacon Hills. It'd been emptied out years ago when a larger one had opened up across town next to the movie theater. The walls were all a dull faded gray. The only light came from a few cracked skylights in the ceiling, the electricity having been shut off a while ago. Dirt and debris littered the floor, and the smells of animals living and dead permeated the air like a thick smog.

            Scott and the others got to the mall with ten minutes to spare. They left their various cars in a run-down parking garage and made their way carefully through the derelict building. With some convincing Scott had finally managed to talk Stiles and Lydia into staying behind with Deaton to work on figuring out what this Darach might be up to. Stiles had tried to insist on coming with the others, but Scott wasn't about to place his very human friend in harm's way. Derek, Isaac, Jackson, and Boyd were all wolves, and could at least heal if things went badly. Lydia and Stiles didn't have that luxury.

            Derek and the others hung back at the top of an old escalator, in what might have once been the food court. Theoretically, that would leave them downwind, and therefore harder for Deucalion to sense. Scott wasn't sure how well that would actually work, but it was the best idea they had.

            He found Deucalion sitting alone on the first floor of the mall in a large atrium. His cane was resting firmly across his legs, and from the way, he was sitting Scott was almost reminded of a kind of dark Santa, only this man and the mall around him was a swirl of death, decay, and darkness. Deucalion smiled when Scott started walking towards him, the red lens of his glasses flashing as they caught a little of the light.

            "Ah, Scott…" Deucalion grinned wider. "How good of you to come."

            "I'm here." Scott said simply. "Now what do you want?"

            "Yes… you are…." Deucalion's hands shifted on his cane. "Although I seem to recall telling you to come along…" he raised his voice suddenly. "You may as well come out now, Derek…"

            Scott grimaced. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he saw Derek and the others reluctantly making their way down the battered escalator.

            "…But that's all right." Deucalion laughed, a cold hollow sound that rung in Scott's ears. "I didn't come alone either."

            Three pairs of glowing red eyes materialized out of the darkness, Kali, her clawed feet clicking across the floor, Ennis right behind her, and last of all the giant Alpha growling sinisterly.

            Deucalion grinned. "Take them."

            Kali and Ennis howled and rushed forward. Derek popped his claws and fangs and moved to meet him. Isaac and Boyd were behind him their eyes glowing golden, Jackson bringing up the rear with his own burning blue eyes. Scott pulled out his own claws and felt his face shift as he threw himself into the fray.

            Derek ducked a swipe of Kali's fist, and in the same motion she leaped up slicing out at Isaac with one foot. Isaac howled and hopped back, but her claws drew a little blood all the same. Without missing a beat, Kali lashed out again, her slash this time barely missing Derek's eye and leaving a long cut along his cheek. When Isaac moved in to drive her back she vaulted off his shoulder and landed behind him, delivering two quick blows to his legs that brought him to his knees.

            Boyd and Jackson weren't fairing much better. Ennis had Boyd pinned against a wall and was keeping Jackson at arm's length, swinging out with his claws anytime Jackson tried to get close. Boyd already had bruises forming on one side of his face and a couple of small cuts along his neck. Somewhat miraculously, Jackson didn't seem to have been cut yet, but looking at Ennis, Scott could see it wasn't for a lack of trying.

            Scott zeroed in on Deucalion. From what Derek had said he was unquestionably the biggest threat, and while taking him out wouldn't stop the others it might be enough to get them to regroup. Deucalion was still just sitting at the far end of the atrium, but the giant Alpha had stepped up between him and the rest of the fight, like some kind of reluctant bodyguard. The Alpha growled when Scott approached.

            "Don't try it."

            Scott stared into the man's eyes and his strange facial marking, trying to take his measure. The giant looked strong for sure-but how fast was he? Scott ran forward and the Alpha swung a massive fist at Scott's head. Scott ducked at the last possible second, and the hammer of a hand went wide, hitting a support pillar instead, and gouging a solid chunk out of the concrete. So very strong then, Scott mentally amended. But he had a plan now. When the Alpha swung at him again Scott dove between his legs, sliding across the floor towards Deucalion. He came up with his claws out and managed to grab Deucalion's neck before the other man could move.

            "Call them off." Scott said a little breathlessly. "Call them off right now…"

            Deucalion smiled, and Scott felt his hopes drop into the pit of his stomach. "Now why would I ever want to do that?"

            Deucalion's eyes blazed red, and he twitched his head. The shadows behind him rippled and a shape seemed to slip off of him and throw itself at Scott. Scott hit the ground hard, and the shadowy wolf climbed up on top of him, pinning him there. Deucalion stood up slowly, looming over Scott, his smile even wider now.

            "So nice of you to deliver yourself to me, Mr. McCall. It really has saved me quite a lot of trouble…"

            Across the atrium Derek managed to get a good blow in on Kali, knocking her against the escalator. He helped Isaac struggle to his feet, and used the few seconds breathing room he'd made with Kali to zero in on Ennis. Ennis still had Boyd up against a wall and was wailing on the beta. Jackson was on Ennis' back, stabbing and biting wherever he could and hanging on hard, desperate to drive Ennis off of Boyd. Derek blocked Ennis' next punch, catching it in the palm of his hand, and using the force to aim a strong jab at Ennis' elbow. The bone cracked audibly, and Ennis howled in pain, stumbling back. He clawed at Jackson with his good hand, finally grabbing him by the back of his shirt and throwing him into Derek. Derek caught Jackson, which bought Ennis the few seconds he needed to back away further. Jackson's face and hands were bloody and his shirt was torn where Ennis had grabbed it, but he was otherwise unscathed.

            "Go help Scott!" Derek shouted, shoving Jackson forward for good measure. Jackson nodded, panting a little and raced across the atrium.

            The big Alpha reached to grab him, but at the last second somehow missed, and Jackson sailed by to slam into Deucalion. The body blow didn't do much damage, but it did put Deucalion off balance for just a second. The shadow wolf holding Scott blurred out a little, and he was able to grab Jackson's hand and pull himself to his feet.

            Deucalion's eyes were all red now, and he glared at the giant Alpha with a cold fury. "You-"

            He never got the chance to finish his sentence.

            "Bombs away!" From somewhere above Scott heard Stiles yell out, and a second later something glittered down from the floor above them and clanged into the ground. Scott had a pretty good idea what it was and just managed to cover his eyes in time. The flashbang exploded in a torrent of light and nearly deafening sound. Even with his eyes covered Scott could see some of the residual flash. Scott lost all sense of sound entirely, the huge noise combined with werewolf hearing enough to leave behind just a painful ringing.

            When it was over, Scott finally opened his eyes and stumbled to his feet. The flashbang had left all the werewolves temporarily blind and stumbling around holding their heads. Scott remembered Stiles telling him once that a stun grenade like this might last for somewhere around five minutes, but with werewolf healing, Scott had a feeling it would wear off a lot faster. He grabbed hold of Jackson and pushed him back towards the escalator. Scott could just make out Stiles and Lydia standing near the top.

            "Go!" Scott shouted, hoping Jackson's hearing had recovered enough for him to understand. "We have to get out of here!"

            Jackson nodded and staggered forward. Derek was helping Boyd sling Isaac over his shoulder and practically pushing his other two betas up the first few steps of the escalator. As Scott watched Stiles came running down to help.

            But the Alphas were recovering too. Stiles' warning might have given Scott, Derek, and the others a slight edge, but Alphas were inherently stronger. Kali and Ennis were already back on their feet, and behind him, Scott could see the giant lumbering back up as well.

            But there was no sign of Deucalion.

            A blade pierced Scott's shoulder, driving him back and pinning him against the pillar the giant had damaged earlier. Deucalion emerged out of the smoky haze the flash bomb had left behind, he alone being used to moving without his sight. His face was pure rage, his eyes glowing bright and his mouth full of fangs. He drove the blade in his cane another few inches into Scott.

            "That wasn't very nice of your friends." Deucalion snarled. He wrapped his hand around Scott's throat and squeezed. "Once I've gotten hold of you I may have to teach them all a little lesson…"

            Scott tried to fight him off but the older Alpha was just too strong. Help wasn't coming either. Boyd and Isaac were halfway up the old escalator, Jackson not far behind them. At the bottom, Derek was fighting with Kali again, the two of them strong enough to navigate their blows on scent while eyesight recovered. Ennis was on his way over towards Scott and Deucalion, and the giant Alpha had finally regained his footing and was waiting in the wings. Nevertheless, Scott pushed back against Deucalion with all his might. If nothing else he could at least buy enough time for his friends to escape. Scott's golden eyes shone bright, but for just a second in the reflection of Deucalion's glasses, they seemed to take on an almost orangish tint.

            Something whistled by Deucalion's face and Scott saw a line of blood appear across his cheek. An arrow embedded itself in the pillar just above Scott's head and beeped once. Scott looked across the atrium to see Allison standing at the top of the escalator, her bow pulled taut as she loosed another arrow. This one took Deucalion in the back of his shoulder, and his hand fell away from Scott's throat.

            "Scott run!" Allison shouted.

            Scott ducked as Deucalion tried to grab him again, and saw a red light flash on the arrow stuck in the pillar as it beeped again. Deucalion saw it too somehow, his red eyes going wide.

            "Get back!" He howled.

            Allison's arrow exploded into a million little pieces, taking the remains of the damaged pillar with it. The floor underneath it gave way and the concrete pieces rained down below. As the dust cleared Scott saw the ceiling wasn't looking much better. Without the pillar to help hold it up, a whole section was starting to collapse inward, leaning dangerously. As huge chunks of it began to fall Scott scrambled to get to the escalator and the safety of the undamaged section of the floor. He was nearly there when he felt a hand wrap around his ankle.

            Ennis had fallen to the floor when the blast from Allison's arrow hit, but he had crawled close enough to grab Scott now. He pulled Scott to him and slowly stood up, using his weight and greater size to keep Scott pinned in place. He grinned. "Just where do you think you're going?"

            Suddenly Ennis stumbled back, releasing Scott. For a moment Scott though Allison had hit him with an arrow, but then he saw Derek snarling between him and the enemy Alpha.

            "Go Scott!" Derek roared. "I'm right behind you!"

            Scott scrambled to his feet. It was maybe a hundred feet to the escalator. Kali should have been in his way, but she had scrambled back towards Deucalion and the others when the floor weakened to get out of danger. Scott ran for it. He was just starting to climb up when a loud crack forced him to look back. The floor had opened up wider, and Ennis had Derek backed up against the gaping hole.

            "Derek!" Scott turned to go back. As he watched in horror, Ennis smiled, his face pure fury as he shoved Derek back into the open air. But Derek wasn't going down without a fight. At the last second, he caught hold of Ennis' hand and pulled him off with him. Derek met Scott's gaze across the room and smiled. "NO!"

            But it was too late, they were both falling hundreds of feet to the cold floor below. Kali howled furiously. Scott tried to turn back all the same, but Stiles was there at his side, pulling Scott up the stairs. His friend's face was a white mask of horror.

            "Scott! We can't Scott. C'mon-" Stiles pulled harder on him. "Scott we have to go!"

            Scott made it up the stairs in fits and starts, Stiles pushing forward every step of the way. Behind them more of the ceiling finally gave way, kicking up huge clouds of dust as the rocks rained down relentlessly.

***

            The next day at school was a somber one. The cross-country team was getting ready to leave for an overnight meet which would usually have been some cause for celebration, but the day passed for Scott in a daze. It was all his fault. Scott knew the others were hurting too, but it had been his plan, his idea to go to Deucalion. His choice that had put Derek in danger…

            Scott trudged up the steps of the bus and took his usual seat towards the back with Stiles. He passed Boyd and Isaac sitting together and both looking weary, and Ethan and Jackson sitting together across from Danny. Jackson had his head down and was saying something to Ethan Scott couldn't focus in enough to catch. Scott practically collapsed down into his seat, throwing his bag at the window to use as a makes shift pillow. Stiles slid down next to him.

            "Are you okay?" He asked quietly.

            "I can't be." Scott's voice felt hollow. "He's dead Stiles. Derek's dead and it's all my fault…

***

            It was the smell that hit him first. Strange herbs…and something else. The room was mostly dark, but here and there a candle flickered. He was in a bed… not just any bed he realized, but his own. He was in his loft. He tried to sit up and hissed as pain lanced through his entire body.

            "I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice drifted in from the shadows. "I've barely gotten you stitched back together…"

            The sheet fell back as he shifted, and he saw his chest was covered in strange runic marks, a green poultice of some sort smeared across his muscles. He tried to speak, but his throat was too dry.

            "Hello, Derek." A slender woman with long brown hair stepped out of the shadows. He'd seen her somewhere before… At the school- she was the teacher… What had her name been-Blake? She smiled, and in the low light of the candles, it looked different somehow. "I think it's time you and I have a little chat…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter things will really start to diverge more... :)


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